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ADDEESSES 

SPOKEN  TO    WOBKING   MEN  FROM  PULPIT 
AND  PLATFORM. 


S.   EEYNOLDS   HOLE, 


DEAN   OF    ROCHESTER. 


■  Think  deeply,  then,  0  man. 

How  great  thou  art ; 
Pay  thyself  homage 

With  a  trembling  heart." 


THOMAS    WHITTAKER, 

2  &  3   BIBLE   HOUSE. 


en 


%U' 


INSCRIBED 

TO 

THE   ARCHBISHOP   OF   CANTERBURY, 

WITH  THE   KIND   ASSENT   OF  HIS  GRACE, 

AND 

WITH  THE  AUTHOR'S  MOST  SINCERE  RESPECT  AND  LOVE. 


The  Deanebt,  Rochestee, 
Febi'uary,  1894. 


155736 


PKEFACE. 

I  SHOULD  not  of  my  own  accord  have  published 
these  Addresses,  because  I  cannot  expect  from 
those  who  may  read  them  the  sympathy  evoked 
by  the  living  voice  ;  but  I  am  persuaded  by  the 
sweet  importunities  and  hopeful  encouragements 
of  many  friends  whom  I  trust. 

S.  REYNOLDS   HOLE. 


^     OF  THE 


//     ^     OF  THE 

f    UNIVERSITY 

Vv  OF 

CONTENTS 


PAGE 

I.  Do   YOU   READ   THE  BiBLE  ?                   ...  ...                 ...            1 

II.  Christianity  and  Common  Sense       ...  ...             13 

III.  Work   ...           ...           ...           ...  ...  ...      32 

IV.  True  Education      ...           ...           ...  ...  51 

V.  Conversion        ...           ...           ...  ...           ...      67 

VI.  Unbelief.— I.  The  Origin     ...            ...  ...             82 

VII.  Unbelief. — II.  The  Results        ...  ...           ...     101 

VIII.  Unbelief. — III.  The  Remedies            ...  ...            118 

IX.  The  Gentleman  in  the  Loose  Box  ...            ...     137 

X.  Friendly  Societies                ...           ...  ...           156 

XI.  Home  Rule        ...            ...            ...  ...            ...     177 

XII.  The  Friends  op  the  Working  Man  ...  ...            184 

XIII.  Bible  Temperance.— I.  ...            ...  ...  ...     202 

XIV.  Bible  Temperance.— II.         ...            ...  ...  215 

XV.  To  Soldiers .  ...     233 

XVI.  Who  is  a  Gentleman?         ...           ...  ...           255 

XVII.  Gambling  AND  Betting...           ...  ...           ...    273 

XVIII.  The  Church  and  Dissent     ...            ...  ...            298 

XIX.  On  the  Causes,  the  Conduct,  and  the  Consequences 

OF  Sin            ...           ...           ...  ...  ...    310 


ADDEESSES  TO  WOKKING  MEN. 


I. 

DO  YOU  BEAD  THE  BIBLE? 

"  Search  the  Scriptures." — St.  John  v.  39. 

Do  you  read  the  Bible  ?  It  seems  a  strange  question 
to  Christians  in  a  Christian  church — to  those  who 
profess  to  believe  that  the  Bible  is  the  Word  of  God, 
the  record  of  the  only  salvation. 

But  is  there  not  a  cause  ?  In  the  main  street  of 
this  or  any  other  city,  in  how  many  houses  should  we 
find  Bibles  showing  signs  of  constant  use  ?  I  see, 
here  and  there,  a  volume  splendidly  bound,  and 
illustrated  with  engravings  (poor  engravings,  for  the 
art  of  the  Painter  in  England  is  no  longer  the  hand- 
maid of  religion) ;  but  these  books  manifestly  are  for 
ornament,  and  not  for  use.  An  old  preacher  replied 
to  the  question  of  a  young  clergyman,  "  Which  is  the 
best  sermon  you  have  ever  heard  or  read  ? "  "  The 
Sermon  on  the  Mount."     And  yet  how  many  run  to 

B 


2  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

and  fro  to  hear  a  sermon  from  the  servant,  and  how 
few  sit  at  the  Master's  feet ! 

We  hear  a  great  deal  about  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel — the  Bible,  and  the  Bible  only ;  but  is  it  not 
too  often  the  Gospel  of  a  particular  school  or  preacher, 
and  not  the  Gospel  according  to  the  Evangelists  ? 
IIow  rarely  do  we  read  the  discourses  of  St.  Peter 
or  St.  Paul  in  comparison  with  those  of  human 
thought!  Surely  this  unwillingness  to  search  the 
Scriptures  is  a  mystery  of  iniquity,  as  fearful  as  it 
is  strange.  I  remember  asking  a  converted  Jew  in 
conversation  what  argument  he  thought  most  likely 
to  convince  his  brethren.  "  Oh,"  he  said,  "  the  study 
of  the  Scriptures — Moses  and  the  Prophets  ;  but  they 
will  not  read  them.  They  will  peruse  the  Rabbinical 
writings  and  the  traditions  of  the  elders,  but  not  the 
Scriptures."  The  explanation  is  not  hard  to  find ;  in 
the  Old  Testament,  "  Thou  hatest  instruction,  and  hast 
cast  My  words  behind  thee ; "  '•'  My  people  would  not 
hear  My  voice ; "  and  in  the  New,  "  All  Scripture  is 
given  by  inspiration  of  God,  and  is  profitable  for 
doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction  in 
righteousness." 

Even  of  those  who  read,  how  many  do  this  as  a  duty 
rather  than  as  a  delight,  without  prayer  before  or 
meditation  after!  How  many  read  in  a  spirit  of 
controversy ! — not  to  learn,  but  to  teach ;  not  to 
reform  themselves,  but  to  refute  or  to  rebuke  their 
neighbours.  And  of  those  who  insist  upon  the  Bible, 
and  the  Bible  only, — how  often,  when  we  come  to  an 


DO   YOU  READ   THE  BIBLE  ?  3 

investigation  of  their  knowledge,  do  we  find  a  very 
superficial  and  partial  acquaintance  with  the  Sacred 
Truth  !  Again,  men  are  full  of  excuses.  They  have 
'*no  time  to  search  the  Scriptures,"  but  plenty  of 
time  for  the  novel  or  the  newspaper.  Some  say  they 
are  no  scholars.  "  Such  knowledge  is  too  wonderful 
for  me ;  I  cannot  attain  unto  it."  But  no  scholarship 
is  required.  On  the  contrary,  w^e  are  divinely  assured 
that  God  giveth  wisdom  to  the  simple ;  that  know- 
ledge puffeth  up,  but  charity  edifieth.  And  so  one 
of  the  holiest  of  men,  and  one  of  those  most  learned 
in  the  Scriptures,  St.  Augustine,  writes,  "When  I 
was  young,  I  came  to  the  study  of  the  Bible  with  the 
shrewdness  of  dispute,  and  not  with  the  meekness 
of  inquiring ;  so  it  was  that  by  my  own  perverseness 
I  saw  the  door  of  Scripture  closed  against  myself. 
And  why  ?  Because  I  sought  with  pride  for  what 
can  only  be  found  by  humility." 

Then  the  question  is  asked,  "  Why  should  we 
read  the  Bible  more  than  the  Koran,  or  the  sacred 
books  of  other  religions  ? "  We  are  not  to  shut  our 
e^'es  to  all  that  is  true  and  beautiful  in  other  creeds, 
or  to  be  constantly  denouncing  them  as  hindrances 
to  Christianity.  Nor  must  we  forget  who  it  was 
who  said,  that  many  should  come  from  the  east 
and  the  west,  and  from  the  north  and  the  south,  and 
should  sit  down  with  Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  while  the  children  of  the 
kingdom  should  be  cast  out.  On  the  other  hand,  we 
must  bear  in  mind  that  all  which  is  most  attractive 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


4  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN, 

in  other  religions  is  either  borrowed  from  or  resembles 
Christianity.  There  is  no  comparison,  for  example, 
as  to  the  character  of  Christ  and  Mohammed,  or  as 
to  their  teaching.  Mohammed  erred,  and  never  con- 
cealed his  liability  to  err.  Christ  was  holy,  harmless, 
undefiled,  and  the  most  malignant  enemy  was  silent 
when  He  asked,  "Which  of  you  convinceth  Me  of 
sin  ? "  There  is  no  comparison  between  the  Bible  and 
the  Koran.  The  latter  cannot  be  translated  harmoni- 
ously into  other  languages ;  the  Bible  adapts  itself  to 
all.  The  Mussulman  discourages,  the  Christian  re- 
joices in,  translation. 

Why  should  you  read  the  Bible  ?  Because  it  is 
impossible  that  so  many  different  authors,  writing  at 
various  times  and  at  a  distance  from  each  other,  could 
have  agreed  upon  such  momentous  subjects  without 
a  common  inspiration.  It  is  impossible  that  men, 
speaking  different  languages,  in  diverse  times  and 
climes,  could  have  designed  a  system  of  religion  at 
unity  in  itself.  Nor  is  it  likely  that  human  wisdom 
would  have  composed  a  scheme  so  totally  opposed'  to 
human  nature,  which  humbles  our  pride,  thwarts  our 
passions,  and  bids  us  refuse  and  despise  those  things 
which  the  world  loves  best.  All  false  religions  have 
many  adaptations  and  concessions  to  human  infirmity ; 
but  Christianity  bids  us  mortify  our  members  which 
are  upon  the  earth ;  and  Christ  says,  "  If  any  man 
will  come  after  Me,  let  him  take  up  his  cross,  and 
foUow." 

The  very  existence  of  the  Bible  should  induce  us 


DO   YOU  READ   THE  BIBLES  5 

to  read  it;  its  preservation  and  continuity,  re- 
fulfilments  for  ever  of  our  Lord's  promise,  "  Heaven 
and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but  My  Word  shall  not 
pass  away."  Would  a  falsehood  have  been  preserved 
for  three  thousand  years  ?  The  kings  of  the  earth 
and  its  rulers,  the  teachers  of  human  philosophy,  the 
oppositions  of  science — falsely  so  called — have  striven 
in  vain  to  destroy  it.  And  ''  it  stands  this  day,  amid 
the  wreck  of  all  that  is  human,  without  the  alteration 
of  one  sentence  so  as  to  change  the  doctrine  which 
is  taught  therein."*  Yoltaire  predicted  that  there 
would  be  no  Bible  in  the  nineteenth  century.  "  In 
less  than  a  hundred  years,"  he  said,  "  Christianity 
will  have  been  swept  from  existence."  Yoltaire  is  no 
longer  read;  but  copies  of  the  Bible  are  multiplied 
by  the  million,  and  two  hundred  and  six  translations 
have  been  distributed  since  1804. 

The  Bible  is  manifestly  inspired,  because  no  human 
cleverness  can  foretell  the  future;  because  "the 
prophecy  came  not  in  the  old  time  by  the  will  of 
man,  but  holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved 
by  the  Holy  Ghost ; "  and  because  the  prophecies  of 
the  Old  Testament  were  fulfilled,  some  of  them  in  its 
own,  and  some  in  the  ITew  Testament  records.  We 
should  read  the  Bible,  because  it  is  adapted  to  all 
men  and  all  moods,  in  every  time  and  clime.  It  has 
been  well  said  that  the  Bible  is  a  river  which  has 
depths  in  which  a  giant  may  swim,  and  shallows 
which  maj^  be  crossed  by  a  child. 
*  Bishop  Jewell. 


6  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN, 

"  If  thou  art  merry,  here  are  airs ; 
If  melanclioly,  here  are  prayers  ; 
If  studious,  here  are  those  things  writ 
Which  may  deserve  tliy  ablest  wit. 
If  hungry,  here  is  food  divine  ; 
If  thirsty,  nectar,  lieavenly  wine." 

Theology  is  the  queen  of  sciences,  and  the  student 

of  the  sacred  Scriptures  finds  daily  new  subjects  for 

his   admiration ;     and   yet   the    simple    rustic    sees 

heaven  as  clearly  before  him,  and  the  road  as  free 

and  open,  as  the  most  erudite  and  ascetic  of  the  saints. 

Henry    Martyn    took   the    highest    honours    which 

Cambridge  could  give ;  but  when  his  mind  was  open 

to  understand  the  Scriptures,  his  scholarship  seemed 

to   be   in   comparison   but   vanity   and   vexation   of 

spirit.     And  so  the  cottage  dame,  "  who  knows,  and 

knows  no  more,  her  Bible  true,"  holds  in  her  hand 

the  same  passport  to  Paradise. 

*♦  And  in  that  Charter  reads  with  sparkling  oyes, 
Her  title  to  a  mansion  in  the  skies." 

Charles  Dickens  wrote,  "  The  New  Testament  is 
the  best  book  that  ever  was,  or  ever  will  be,  known 
in  the  world ;  and  it  teaches  you  the  best  lessons  by 
which  any  human  creature,  who  tries  to  be  faithful 
and  truthful  to  duty,  can  possibly  be  guided." 

We  should  read  the  Bible,  because  it  is  a  proclama- 
tion of  the  only  true  liberty,  true  equality,  true  love, 
true  wisdom  ;  because  here  we  find  the  only  explana- 
tion of  sorrow,  sickness,  death,  and  eternity,  of  the 
cause,  consequence,  and  cure  of  sin ;  the  only  history 
which   reveals  to  us   the   origin   and   object  of   our 


DO    YOU  READ   THE  BIBLE  1  7 

existence,  the  beginning  and  the  ending  of  this 
world  in  which  we  live.  True  liberty,  not  licence 
to  do  every  man  that  which  seemeth  right  in 
his  own  eyes,  but  the  glorious  liberty  wherewith 
Christ  has  made  us  free  from  the  slavery  of  the  world, 
the  flesh,  and  the  devil.  True  equality,  which  we 
only  realize  when  we  regard  our  fellow-men  as  alike 
dear  to  our  Father  which  is  in  heaven,  our  Saviour 
who  died  for  all,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  which  is  given 
to  every  man  to  profit  withal.  A  proclamation  of 
love,  which  unites  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men  in 
the  unity  of  spirit,  the  bond  of  peace,  and  the  right- 
eousness of  life.  A  proclamation  of  wisdom  ;  for  the 
wisdom  of  this  world  is  foolishness  with  God,  and 
only  by  His  revelation  can  we  be  made  wise  unto 
salvation. 

Hoiv  are  we  to  read  the  Bible  ?  Take  heed  "  how 
ye  hear."  "  Bearch  the  Scriptures."  That  does  not 
mean  reading  hastily ;  it  means  listening  reverently 
to  God's  words — "  Speak,  Lord ;  for  Thy  servant 
heareth  " — after  prayer  *  and  then  keeping  them,  as 
the  Holy  Mother  kept  them,  and  pondering  them  in 
the  heart.  Not  merely  remembering,  but  revering. 
There  are  many  now  who,  like  the  scribes  and  dis- 
senters in  our  Lord's  time,  have  a  large  knowledge  of 
the  Scriptures,  can  argue  and  quote  texts,  but  who, 
as  St.  Peter  wrote,  "may  wrest   the   Scriptures   to 

*  For  example,  the  Collect  for  the  Second  Sunday  in  Advent ;  or, 
"0  Lord,  open  Thou  mine  eyes,  that  I  mav  see  the  wonderful  things 
of  Thy  Law." 


8  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

tlieir  own  destruction."  God's  Word  may  be  spoken 
by  the  lips,  but  not  written  in  the  heart.  The  seed, 
which  is  the  Word  of  God,  must  be  sown  in  the  soil 
prepared  to  receive  it — the  honest  and  good  heart 
of  faithful  and  obedient  love ;  love  of  Him  who,  on 
the  first  Easter  day,  went  with  the  two  disciples  to 
Emmaus,  and  opened  their  understanding  that  they 
might  understand  the  Scripture.  We  must  receive 
with  meekness  the  engrafted  Word,  for  the  Word 
preached  or  read  will  not  profit  unless  it  be  mixed 
with  faith.  Reason  leads  us  to  the  door,  but  then 
faith  takes  us  by  the  hand  and  guides  us  heavenward. 
**  The  time  comes,"  Lord  Bacon  writes,  "  when  reason 
must  leave  the  pinnace  of  human  learning  and 
embark  by  faith  in  the  ark  of  Christ's  Church,  which 
alone  has  the  true  sea-needle." 

On  the  tomb  of  the  great  American  statesman, 
Daniel  Webster,  is  inscribed  the  text,  "  Lord,  I 
believe ;  help  Thou  mine  unbelief."  There  are  some 
in  our  day  who,  while  they  profess  and  call  them- 
selves Christians,  and  declare  that  their  only  object 
is  the  discovery  and  confirmation  of  truth,  seem  to 
derive  more  satisfaction  in  finding  out  anachronisms 
and  contradictions  and  mistakes,  rather  than  argu- 
ments and  proofs  of  inspiration;  who  take  more 
interest  in  subjects  which  "  minister  questions,  rather 
than  godly  edifying  which  is  in  faith ;  "  who  seem  to 
be  more  interested  in  the  names  of  writers  and  the 
dates  of  their  writing,  their  style,  and  minor  details, 
than  in  the  divine  promises,  warnings,  and  ins  true- 


DO   YOU  READ   THE  BIBLE  ?  9 

tions  which  they  were  commissioned  to  announce  to 
mankind.  Ignoring  the  Apostolic  caution,  that  no 
Scripture  is  of  private  interpretation,  ^'  that  the  letter 
killeth,  but  the  spirit  giveth  life,"  these  writers  do  not 
hesitate  to  tell  us  that  the  Church  has  been  teaching 
over  eighteen  centuries  as  divine  truths,  myths, 
allegories,  fond  things  vainly  invented.  They  seem 
to  expect  us  only  to  believe  that  which  they  dictate 
to  us,  and  to  disbelieve  whatever  they  may  dispute. 
We  are  to  have  an  "Index  Expurgatorius,"  new 
canons,  and  new  creeds.  The  ancient  fathers,  mar- 
tyrs, confessors,  bishops,  and  doctors,  with  their  con- 
temporaries in  all  Christendom,  have  been  under  a 
delusion. 

The  Church  has  never  promulgated  any  theory  ot 
inspiration,  but  she  remains  the  pillar  and  ground  of 
the  truth.  She  teaches  that  Holy  Scripture  contains 
all  things  necessary  to  salvation,  but  she  does  not 
teach  that  in  matters  of  minor  importance  there  are 
no  mistakes.  We  have  this  treasure  in  earthen  vessels, 
and  so  St.  Austin  wrote  to  St.  Jerome,  "  I  confess  I  have 
learned  to  pay  this  reverence  and  honour  only  to  those 
books  of  Scripture  which  are  called  canonical,  that  I 
most  firmly  believe  none  of  the  authors  of  them  was 
guilty  of  any  error  in  writing ;  and  if  I  find  anything 
in  those  books  which  seems  contrary  to  truth,  I  make 
no  doubt  but  that  it  is  either  a  corruption  of  the  copy, 
or  that  the  translator  did  not  hit  the  sense,  or  that  I 
myself  could  not  understand  it." 

The  saints  of  old  spent  not  their  time  in  examining 


10  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

the  casket  or  the  settiDg,  but  in  admiring  the  pearl 
of  great  price — the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  They  knew 
of  the  human  element,  but  they  did  not  proclaim  it 
from  the  housetops  for  the  world  to  say,  "  There, 
there !  so  would  we  have  it ! "  to  discourage  the 
doubtful  and  to  make  the  hearts  of  the  righteous 
sad.  Their  object  was  not  to  reform  the  Scriptures, 
but  to  be  reformed  by  them ;  not  to  hew  out  new 
cisterns,  but  to  draw  living  water  from  the  old ;  not 
to  make  new  ways  to  heaven,  but  to  ask  for  the  old 
paths  wherein  is  the  good  way,  and  to  walk  therein, 
that  so  they  might  find  rest  for  their  souls.  And 
thus,  as  Pascal  writes,  "  everything  tends  to  the 
advantage  of  the  elect — even  the  obscurities  of  the 
Scripture,  for  they  honour  them  the  more  on  account 
of  the  divine  clearness  of  other  parts ;  while,  on  the 
contrary,  everything  tends  to  evil  with  unbelievers, 
even  those  clearer  portions  themselves,  for  they 
blaspheme  all  the  Scriptures  on  account  of  the  ob- 
scurities which  perplex  them.  "The  fear  of  the 
Lord,  that  is  wisdom;  and  to  depart  from  evil  is 
understanding."  "  The  secret  of  the  Lord^is  with  them 
that  fear  Him."  "  I  am  wiser  than  the  aged,  because 
I  keep  Thy  commandments."  "I  thank  thee,  0 
Father,  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  that  Thou  hast 
hid  these  things  from  the  wise  and  prudent,  and  hast 
revealed  them  unto  babes." 

"Avoid  foolish  questions,  genealogies,  contentions, 
and  strivings  about  the  law ;  for  they  are  unprofitable 
and  vain."     When  Melancthon  came  from  the  Diet  of 


DO   YOU  READ   THE  BIBLE  ?  1 1 

Spires  to  visit  his  mother  at  Brunnen,  she  said, 
"  What  am  I  to  do  ?  What  am  I  to  believe,  my  son, 
in  this  time  of  division  and  debate  ?  "  And  the  answer 
was,  "  Believe  and  pray  as  heretofore ;  take  no  heed 
of  controversy."  "  Live  your  Bible/'  says  Ruskin, 
"  and  your  doubts  will  cease." 

Take  this  home  as  the  golden  rule  for  the  right  use 
of  Holy  Scripture,  "Be  ye  doers  of  the  Word,  and  not 
hearers  only."  Be  not  as  the  butterflies  which  go 
from  flower  to  flower,  but  as  the  bees  which  gather 
the  honey.  "  Search  the  Scriptures,"  saying,  "  Lord, 
to  whom  shall  we  go?  Thou  hast  the  words  of 
eternal  life."  Prayerfully,*  faithfully,  commune  with 
your  Creator,  Saviour,  and  Guide — your  Guide  unto 
death,  the  Friend  that  loveth  at  all  times,  the  Brother 
born  for  adversity,  who  has  made  this  promise  to  you 
and  me,  "  I  will  never  leave  thee  nor  forsake  thee." 
Study  with  reverent  admiration  the  only  perfect 
Example. 

The  Greeks  had  a  sculptor  named  Polycletus,  who 
carved  in  marble  the  statue  of  a  man,  so  perfect  in  its 
proportions  that  it  was  accepted  by  his  brethren  as 
their  model,  and  was  known  as  the  Rule  of  Polycletus. 
God  has  given  us  a  perfect  Model,  and  shown  us  in 
the  Holy  Scriptures  how  by  His  grace  we  may  try  to 
copy  it.  It  is  not  to  be  done  at  once,  as  when 
metal  is  poured  into  mould,  but  here  a  little  and 
there  a  little — as  with  the  sculptor  chip  by  chip. 
Patience  and  self-denial  must  have  their  perfect 
work. 


I  Hi  IXlF'r^r^tm—.^ 


12  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

"  The  best  of  men 
That  e*er  wore  earth  about  him  was  a  Bufiferer ; 
A  sweet,  meek,  patient,  humble,  tranquil  spirit. 
The  first  true  gentleman  that  ever  breathed.'* 

My  brother,  sinful,  helpless,  dying,  there  is  no 
work,  nor  device,  nor  knowledge,  nor  wisdom,  in  the 
grave,  whither  thou  goest.  And  you  may  die  to- 
night. Only  this  Book  can  teach  jom  so  to  live 
that  you  may  dread  the  grave  as  little  as  your  bed ; 
teach  you  to  die  that  so  you  may  rise  glorious  at  the 
awful  day. 


II. 

CHEISTIANITY  AND   COMMON   SENSE. 

Let  me  oflfer  to  you,  my  brothers,  to-night,  a  few 
suggestions  concerning  Christianity  and  Common 
Sense.  There  are  some  who  do  not  hesitate  to  say 
that  these  are  contrary  the  one  to  the  other;  that 
they  contradict,  hinder,  and  interfere  with  each  other ; 
that,  even  supposing  that  they  are  both  good  and 
right  in  themselves,  they  must  be  kept  distinct  and 
separate  ;  that  there  is  no  grace  of  congruity  between 
them.  Some  say,  I  know  what  common  sense  means, 
but  Christianity  is  to  me  a  mystery.  They  say,  with 
Sancho  Panza,  "  I  was  not  bred  in  courts,  nor  have 
I  studied  at  Salamanca,  but  I  understand  myself." 
I've  plenty  of  common  sense,  but  I  can't  understand 
religion ;  such  knowledge  is  too  wonderful  and  excel- 
lent for  me ;  I  cannot  attain  unto  it.  So  they  make 
their  want  of  scholarship,  as  they  call  it,  their 
ignorance  of  theology  (which  is,  of  course,  the 
grandest  of  all  the  sciences,  but  which  is  neverthe- 
less in  comparison  with  practical  Christianity  as  an 
erudite  treatise  upon  agriculture  to  a  field  of  ripe 


14  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

golden  wheat) ;  they  plead  want  of  knowledge  for 
want  of  faith,  and  make  it  an  excuse  for  a  selfish 
sensual  life.  They  would  be  very  angry  if  you 
talked  about  their  ignorance,  and  they  have  a  positive 
opinion  to  give  on  most  subjects,  not  excluding  this, 
of  which,  when  it  suits  their  convenience,  they  profess 
to  know  nothing,  i-.e.  religion. 

Theology !  No  man  by  searching  can  find  out 
God.  His  kingdom  cometh  not  by  observation. 
The  secret  of  the  Lord  is  with  them  that  fear  Him. 
He  that  doeth  the  will  shall  know  of  the  doctrine. 
He  giveth  wisdom  unto  the  simple. 

Others  affirm,  on  the  contrary,  that  common  sense, 
which  is  identical  with  reason,  mind,  intellect,  has 
reached  heights  of  wisdom  from  which  it  looks  down 
upon  religion,  as  one  sees  from  a  mountain  the  ruing 
of  an  abbey  in  the  vale   below,  a  mere  outline  of 
beauty,  just    the    suggestion    of    a    noble    purpose, 
quickly  crumbling  to  decay.     Seen  in  the  marvellous 
microscope  of  science,  and   in   the   brilliancy  of  its 
electric  light,  Christianity,  they  tell  us,  is  discovered 
to   be   a    fond    thing    vainly   invented,   a   charming 
allegory,  but  no  longer  applicable,  if  it  ever  was  so, 
to  the  practical  purpose  of  life.     Wherefore  it  shall  be 
my  earnest,  thoughtful,  prayerful  endeavour  to  show, 
as  best  I  may,  that  there  is  a  complete  agreement 
between  Christianity  and  common  sense ;  that  they 
are  united  and  inseparable ;  and  that  they  are  alike 
intelligible  and   practicable   to  those  who  really  try 
to  understand  and  to  enforce  them. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND   COMMON  SENSE.  1 5 

My  object  in  thus  attempting  to  demonstrate  the 
union  which  exists  between  reason  and  faith,  between 
the  head  and  the  heart,  is  to  dispel  that  which  I 
believe  to  be  error,  and  to  promote  that  which  I 
believe  to  be  truth.  My  claims  upon  your  attention 
are  the  experience  of  a  varied  life  and  a  great  desire, 
which  comes  to  me  from  that  love  of  my  fellow-men 
which  Christianity  alone  imparts,  to  comfort  others 
in  this  world  of  sorrow  and  of  sin,  by  the  comfort 
wherewith  I  myself  am  comforted  of  God. 

What  do  we  mean  by  common  sense  ?  With  a 
considerable  number  of  persons  common  sense  means 
uncommon  nonsense;  it  means,  "If  you  don't  think 
as  I  think,  say  as  I  say,  do  as  I  do,  you  must  be  a 
born  fool,"  and  this  they  call  free  thought,  liberty 
of  speech,  independent  action.  Common  sense  with 
them  means  "my  sense" — "My  doxy  is  orthodoxy, 
yours  is  heterodoxy ;  that  which  I  understand  is 
all  that  a  man  need  know,  and  what  I  don't  under- 
stand is  bosh."  Like  the  Saracen  conqueror  who 
burned  the  greatest  library  in  the  world,  stored  with 
the  wisdom  of  ages,  "because,"  said  he,  "I  don't 
understand  letters,  and  therefore  they  must  be  bad 
and  worthless."  They  live  in  a  fool's  paradise,  and 
think  that  all  others  envy  and  admire;  somewhat 
resembling  that  Emperor  of  Tartary,  of  whom  it  is 
recorded  that  when  he  proceeded  to  feed  on  horseflesh 
he  sent  one  of  his  attendants  to  make  a  proclamation 
outside  his  tent  that  all  the  kings  and  potentates  of 
the  world  had  his  permission  to  begin  their  dinners. 


1 6  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN.    * 

Some  say  it  is  common  sense  to  get  what  you  can, 
as  you  can,  and  use  it  as  you  like.  "  Let  him  take 
that  hath  the  power,  and  let  him  keep  who  can  " — 
after  the  manner  of  the  big  navvy  in  the  village 
cricket-match,  who,  when  the  umpire  gave  him 
"  out "  at  an  interesting  crisis  in  the  game,  walked 
quietly  up  to  that  functionary,  and,  without  entering 
into  particulars,  knocked  him  down.  Some  affirm 
that  it  is  common  sense  only  to  accept  that  which 
we  can  touch  or  look  at — "  seeing  is  believing  " — and 
profess  to  ignore  whatsoever  is  beyond  the  range  of 
hand  and  eye.  We  read,  for  example,  that  C.  R. 
Carlisle,  an  infidel,  "advised  people,  in  reference  to 
religious  matters  generally,  to  believe  nothing  with- 
out the  strongest  possible  demonstration.  In  fact, 
he  went  so  far  as  to  advise  them  to  believe  nothing 
in  religion  without  ocular  demonstration,  or,  in  other 
words,  nothing  but  what  they  could  see  with  their 
eyes.  He  did  at  the  same  time  show  that  he 
expected  people  to  believe  him  on  his  bare  word. 
He  had  no  wish  that  they  should  ask  for  ocular 
demonstration,  or  for  demonstrations  of  any  kind 
in  favour  of  atheistical  views.  Atheistical  views 
he  wished  them  to  receive  on  his  own  unsupported 
testimony ;  Christian  views  he  wished  them  to 
receive  on  no  testimony  whatever."  All  that  he 
believes  (so  far  as  negation  can  be  called  belief)  must 
be  true,  all  that  I  believe  must  be  false.  But  no  one 
acts  or  can  act  upon  such  a  silly  profession. 

What  is  there,  which  you  and  I  do,  which  is  not 


CHRISTIANITY  AND   COMMON  SENSE.  1/ 

an  act  of  faith  in  the  unseen  ?  "  Reason  would  never 
submit,  if  it  did  not  perceive  that  there  were  occasions 
when  it  ought  to  submit,  i.e.  to  faith."  * 

What  would  you  think  of  the  man  who  would  not 
get  out  of  bed  in  the  morning  because  he  could  not 
see  his  breakfast  waiting  for  him  in  the  room  below  ? 
And  when  he  does  see  his  cup  of  hot  coffee,  what 
induces  him  to  hope  that  it  isn't  all  chicory  ?  Faith 
in  his  grocer.  What  encourages  him  to  think  that  his 
basin  of  milk  is  not  "  the  joint  produce  of  the  cow  and 
the  pump  "  ?     Faith  in  the  milkman. 

Others,  on  the  contrary,  seem  to  regard  common 
sense  as  an  easy,  unsuspicious  credulity,  which  accepts 
as  truth  whatever  is  stated  with  a  loud  and  confident 
assertion — like  the  rustic  who  was  indignant  when 
his  companion  seemed  to  doubt  the  announcements 
which  the  showman  made  through  his  trumpet,  "  Do 
you  think  as  the  gentleman  ud  say  as  the  giant  wor 
nine  foot  high  if  he  worn't  nine  foot  high,  spooney  ? " 
And  such  men  as  these,  *'  good  easy  men,  full  sure," 
have  an  implicit  faith  in  majorities.  But  public 
history,  and  private  experiences,  yours  and  mine,  are 
evidences  that  majorities  err  not  seldom. 

At  an  election,  for  instance,  it  must  seem  to  you, 
according  to  your  politics,  that  a  large  number  of 
constituencies  who  have  returned  candidates  adverse 
to  your  opinion  are  opaque,  crass,  and  benighted. 
The  majority  of  the  House  of  Commons  had  com- 
plete confidence  in  their  common  sense  when  they 
*  St.  Augustine,  quoted  by  Pascal. 

C 


l8  ADDJiESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

made  merry  at  the  statement  that  passengers  might 
be  conveyed  by  steam  power  at  the  rate  of  twelve 
miles  an  hour.  Before  and  since  those  days  in  which 
the  men  of  Lystra  desired  to  worship  Paul  and 
Barnabas,  and  not  many  hours  after  took  up  stones 
to  stone  them,  there  have  been  crowds  which  first 
crowned  their  heroes  with  laurels  and  subsequently 
treated  those  same  heads  with  no  more  respect  than 
if  they  had  been  cocoanuts  or  effigies  of  Aunt  Sally, 
exposed  to  the  attacks  of  the  public  at  six  shots  a 
penn}'.     Ah,  well  has  our  king-poet  said — 

"  Oh,  momentary  grace  of  mortal  men, 
"Which  we  more  liunt  for  than  the  grace  of  God  ; 
Who  builds  his  hope  in  air  of  your  fair  looks, 
Lives,  like  a  drunken  sailor  on  a  mast, 
Eeady  with  every  nod  to  tumble  down." 

Where,  then,  dissatisfied  with  the  descriptions  to 
which  I  have  referred,  shall  we  obtain  such  an 
accurate  definition  as  will  commend  itself  to  all  ?  I 
would  suggest  the  definition  which  has  been  given 
of  truth  itself, — that  which  has  been  accepted  always, 
everywhere,  and  by  all.  I  would  define  common 
sense  to  be  the  consensus  of  thoughtful  men  through- 
out the  ages,  the  unanimous  verdict  of  the  experience 
of  life,  the  effluence  of  principles  which  cannot  change, 
expressing  itself  in  proverbs  which  convince  the 
world. 

If  it  can  be  shown  that  there  is  not  only  an  exact 
agreement  between  this  common  sense,  so  defined,  and 
Christianity,  but  that  revelation  is  the  development 
of  reason,  leading  us  from  the  finite  to  the  infinite,  a 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  COMMON  SENSE.  1 9 

light  unto  our  feet  and  a  lantern  unto  our  paths  when 
the  mind  is  wandering  in  the  dark — especially  when 
all  those  who  have  made  it  in  an  honest  and  good 
heart  entreat  us  to  follow  their  example,  not  only  with 
their  lips  but  by  their  lives ;  why,  then  it  must  be 
clearly  the  wildest  and  most  perilous  of  all  follies  to 
neglect  so  great  a  salvation.     So  now  to  our  tests. 

The  common  sense  of  humanity  craves  for  happi- 
ness ;  it  sighs,  "  0  Happiness,  our  being's  end  and 
aim ! "  and  considering  the  varied  circumstances  in 
which  we  are  placed,  it  differs  little  in  its  idea  of 
happiness, — health,  plenty,  independent  freedom,  suc- 
cessful work,  the  love  of  those  around  us.  Experi- 
ments which  have  been  made  everywhere,  in  all  time 
as  now,  to  find  happiness  in  mere  selfishness,  in 
eating  and  drinking,  in  the  gratification  of  fleshly 
lusts,  in  idleness,  in  getting  money  anyhow  we  can, 
in  having  our  own  way,  have  failed  to  find  it,  as  they 
fail  to-day. 

"  Rapt  Antony  in  reckless  love  pursued  her, 
Brutus  in  glory,  Caesar  in  dominion : — 
The  first  found  shame,  the  next  satiety, 
The  last  ingratitude— and  all  destruction." 

The  world  has  always  seen  that  which  it  sees  now ; 
it  has  seen  "  sorrow  dogging  sin."  When  men  have 
well  drunk  of  its  pleasures,  then  that  which  is  worse 
— "  the  wine  which  showeth  its  colour  in  the  cup, 
when  it  moveth  aright,  at  the  last  biteth  like  a  serpent 
and  stingeth  like  an  adder."  The  head  aches  longer 
than  the  throat  is  pleased,  and  a  man's  heaviness, 


20  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

which  may  have  been  refreshed  long  before  it  came 
to  drunkenness,  when  it  arrives  thither  has  but 
exchanged  one  sorrow  for  another,  and  taken  a  sin 
to  boot.*  The  painted  face,  which  looked  so  fair 
smiling  in  the  lamplight,  is  haggard  and  wretched  by 
the  light  of  day. 

Yes,  the  world  has  always  seen  what  it  sees  now, 
in  so  many  homes,  hospitals,  asylums,  gaols,  and 
workhouses — poverty,  and  misery,  and  disgrace,  dis- 
ease, corruption,  consumption,  paralysis,  following 
upon  drunkenness,  lust,  and  sloth.  So  that  wise  men 
in  all  climes  and  times  have  left  this  as  the  result  of 
their  observations — that  he  who  would  find  happi- 
ness in  this  world  must  seek  it  in  something  better, 
higher,  nobler,  purer  than  mere  animal  pleasures — 
the  mere  gratification  of  self.  The  most  patient  and 
profound  thinkers  of  this  world,  notably  the  great 
philosophers  of  Greece  and  Rome,  have  unanimously 
recorded  their  belief  that  there  was  a  right  and  a 
wroncr — a  false  and  a  true — and  that  he  who  would 
know  such  happiness  as  this  world  can  give  could 
only  learn  it  in  the  schools  of  thought  and  duty. 
"  Set  your  mind  on  wisdom  and  on  doing  good  to 
your  country  and  to  your  fellows,  and  you  will  find 
the  best  life  to  be  the  happiest."  f  Even  Epicurus, 
though  his  teaching  and  his  life  were  so  corrupt,  yet 
professed  his  belief  that  life  without  virtue  could  not 
be  happy;  and  thousands  confessed,  with  the  queen 
in  the  tragedy,  "  I  kno\v  that  I  am  doing  that  which 
*  Jeremy  Taylor.  t  Seneca. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  COMMON  SENSE.  21 

is  wicked,  but  my  passion  overpowers  my  principle. 
I  am  conscious  of  the  right ;  I  do  the  wrong."  And 
all  the  religions  of  the  world,  just  as  they  have 
evidenced  their  approximations  or  departures  from 
divine  truth,  by  ennobling  or  degrading  the  lives  of 
those  who  professed  them,  have  taught  more  or  less 
earnestly  that  happiness  consisted  in  these  endeavours 
to  eschew  evil  and  to  do  good. 

However  deformed  by  those  proofs  of  their  human 
origin,  which  the  author  of  "Juventus  Mundi,"  in 
speaking  of.  the  Olympian  system,  has  so  aptly  termed 
"  depraved  accommodations  "  (as,  for  example,  in  the 
religion  of  Islam,  founded  by  Mahomet,  the  Mussul- 
man substitutes  formalism  and  self-righteousness  for 
heart-worship  and  humility),  yet  the}^  have  ever 
associated  the  happier  with  the  better  life.  So  in  the 
religion  of  Buddha,  when  a  Deva  inquired  from  him, 
"How  many  men,  when  they  were  yearning  for 
happiness,  have  held  various  things  to  be  blessings ; 
do  thou  declare  to  us  the  chief  good," — he  answered, 
*'  It  comes  to  us  in  good  works,  right  desires  of  the 
heart,  self-control  and  pleasant  speech,  love  of  parents, 
wife,  and  children,  almsgiving,  temperance,  reverence, 
contentment,  patience,  resignation."  And  it  is  because 
Christianity,  being  divine,  cannot  condone  error,  but 
must  speak  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing 
but  the  truth,  because  it  comes  to  us  from  Him,  the 
Author  of  all  happiness,  that  we  find  in  our  love  for 
its  Founder,  and  in  our  obedience  to  His  precepts,  the 
nearest  approach  to  pure  happiness  which  we   can 


22  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

know  on  earth ;  in  foretastes,  gleams,  intimations  of 
that  sweet  peace  and  felicity  which  man  had  in  Eden, 
has  in  Paradise,  and  will  have  for  ever  in  Heaven. 

Now,  entering  more  into  detail,  and  in  endeavour- 
ing to  state  the  arguments  of  common  sense  as  fairly 
and  fully  as  I  can,  I  would  endeavour  to  show  that 
Christianity  is  profitable  unto  all  things,  having 
promise  of  the  life  that  now  is,  and  of  that  which  is 
to  come;  that  it  not  only  withholds  no  good  thing 
from  us,  nothing  which  is  really  good,  but  introduces 
us  to  much  which  we  should  not  otherwise  know; 
that  it  forbids  no  enjoyments  except  those  which 
must  end  in  pain,  and  that  every  duty  which  it 
enjoins,  which,  though  for  the  present  it  seemeth  not 
joyous  but  grievous,  nevertheless  afterwards  worketh 
the  recompense  of  a  sure  reward. 

First,  we  are  assured  by  our  common  sense  that 
health  is  an  indispensable  element  of  happiness ;  and 
accepting  this  as  a  rule  (with  signal  exceptions),  I 
would  ask  in  what  book  shall  we  find  the  sure  laws 
of  health  so  plainly  set  forth  as  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment— in  Christianity  ?  What  keeps  mind  and  body 
strong  and  sound  ?  Why,  those  habits  of  temperance 
(not  in  drink  only — St.  Paul  says,  "  he  that  striveth 
for  the  mastery  is  temperate  in  all  things" — in  his 
language,  for  example,  and  in  his  self-esteem),  that 
regular  employment  of  our  abilities  in  our  daily  duty, 
that  cheerful  contentment,  which  are  everywhere 
taught  by  precept  and  example  in  the  revelation 
of  Jesus  Christ. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND   COMMON  SENSE,  23 

And  SO  it  comes  to  pass  under  this  new  covenant, 
as  under  the  old,  the  voice  of  joy  and  health  is  in 
the  dwellings  of  the  righteous,  "the  hearts  of  them 
rejoice  that  seek  the  Lord,"  and  the  Apostle  quotes 
the  Psalmist  to  show  that  he  who  would  love  life 
and  see  good  days,  must  depart  from  evil  and  do  good, 
seek,  not  pleasure  but,  peace.    Now,  as  when  Solomon 
spoke  it,  "  the  sleep  of  the  labouring  man  is  sweet," 
and  "  the  abundance  of  the  rich,"  the  superabundance, 
which  he  might  have  shared  with  others,  "  will  not 
suffer  him  to  sleep."     It  is  just  as  true  now  as  then, 
that  the   drunkard  and   the   glutton   shall  come  to 
poverty,   and   drowsiness   clothe   a   man  with   rags. 
Solomon   says,  "The  idle   soul  shall  suffer  hunger." 
St.  Paul  says,  "  If  a  man  will  not  work,  neither  shall 
he  eat."     "  Oh,  but,"  it  may  be  said,  "  there  are  scores 
of  idle  folks  who  never  suffer  from  hunger ;  there  are 
lots  of  people  who  don't  work  who  have  plenty  to 
eat."     But  does  any  one  with  common  sense  suppose 
for  a  moment  that  the  idle  man,  or  rather  the  animal 
— for  he  is  not  a  man  who  never  uses  his  mind  or 
his  muscles,  who  does  no  manner  of  work — that  he 
has  the  same  enjoyment  of  his  food  as  the  man  who 
earns   it?     What   is   the  main   object  of   all   those 
Worcestershire  and  Harvey  sauces,  those  ketchups  and 
pick-me-ups,  those  anchovies  and  cayenne  peppers,  but 
to  titilate  the  palates  and  stimulate  the  torpid  appetites 
of  idle  greedy  men?     Three-fourths  of  the  ailments 
which  afflict  the  body  result  from  excess  in  eating  and 
drinking ;  and  German  spas  and  Harrogate  waters  and 


24  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

Turkish  baths,  and  all  the  establishments  for  starving 
and  sweating,  had  never  been  known  if  Christians 
had  regulated  their  diet  by  the  rules  of  Christianity. 

Do  you  remember  the  wise  word  of  Stephenson, 
the  great  engineer,  when  there  was  a  discussion  in 
his  presence  as  to  the  use  of  strong  medicine  and 
the  power  of  the  lancet  ? — "  Never  waste  your  s6eam, 
never  waste  your  steam ;  rake  out  your  fire,  rake  out 
your  fire."  Better  still  he  might  have  added,  "  Don't 
make  your  fire  too  hot,  or  there  will  be  an  explosion, 
brain-disease,  heart-disease,  dropsy,  delirium."  Yet 
when  common  sense  and  Christianity  both  say  to  us, 
"  Prevention  is  better  than  cure,"  we  profess  to  assent, 
but  in  act  deny  it. 

Reason  and  religion  tell  us  that  moderation,  self- 
denial,  abstinence,  are  good  both  for  body  and  soul, 
but  we  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  them  until  a 
surfeit  or  a  sickness  takes  away  the  appetite,  or  the 
doctor  threatens  and  alarms.  If  we  Christians  were 
true  to  our  vows,  if  we  kept  our  word  with  God  as  we 
keep  it  with  our  fellow-men,  if,  as  we  were  taught  in 
childhood,  we  kept  our  bodies  in  temperance,  soberness, 
and  chastity,  we  should  need  no  solemn  pledges,  and  no 
blue  ribbons  in  our  coats,  to  restrain  us  from  excess. 

Again,  common  sense  tells  us  we  must  have  the 
means  of  preserving  health.  We  must  have  enough 
for  our  needs.  And  does  not  religion  concur  ?  I  have 
heard  men  of  business  and  I  have  heard  working 
men  speak  as  though  Christianity  was  opposed  to 
bujang  and  selling,  and  getting  gain;  but  I  find  its 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  COMMON  SENSE.  2$ 

Founder,  on  the  contrary,  commending  those  who  had 

gained  by  trading,  and  condemning  the  man  who  had 

made  no  use  or  increase  of  his  capital. 

Religion  says  to  us,  get  as  much  wealth  as  you  can, 

but  get  it  honestly ;  because  a  false  balance,  a  false 

sample,  a  false  brand,  is  abomination  unto  the  Lord ; 

because,  as  it  is  written,  a  faithful  man,  a  man  "  whom 

you  can  trust,"  shall  abound  with  blessings :  but  he 

that  maketh  haste  to  be  rich,  he  who  is  not  satisfied 

with  a  fair  profit,  a  fair  wage,  he  who  speculates  and 

gambles,  "shall  not   be  innocent."     Woe  unto   him 

that  buildeth  his  house  by  unrighteousness,  that  useth 

his  neighbour's  service  without  wage  !     Christianity 

forbids  no  man  to  get  wealth,  but  it  does  forbid  him 

from  loving  it  for  its  own  sake,  from  hoarding  it, 

from  spending  it  on  self.     It  shows  the  rich  man  a 

thousand  ways  in  which,  giving  back  to  Him  who 

giveth  all,  he  may  consecrate  his  riches  to  the  glory 

of  his  God  and  the  happiness  of  his  fellow-men,  and 

may  change  his  gold  and  silver  for  an   inheritance 

incorruptible,  safe  in  the  treasuries  of  heaven.     It  is 

with  money  as  with  all  things  else,  it  has  its  use  and 

abuse.     If  men  spend  it  wisely  and  generously,  they 

are  happier  in  the  happiness  of  others.     They  know 

one  of  the  sweetest  pleasures  which  can  be  had  on 

earth,  "the  luxury  of  doing  good;  "  but  Shakespeare 

says  to  the  man  who  heaps  up  riches  for  himself — 

"  If  thou  art  rich,  thou'rt  poor ; 
Like  the  poor  ass  whose  back's  with  ingots  bound, 
Thou  bear'st  thy  heavy  burden  but  a  journey, 
And  death  unloadeth  thee." 


26  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

"  I  was  a  far  happier  man/'  said  one  of  our  great 
merchants,  "  when  I  was  a  poor  clerk  in  Liverpool, 
with  £50  a  year,  than  I  am  now  with  my  great 
mansions,  and  servants,  and  carriages,  and  horses,  and 
half  a  million  of  money."  And  another,  whose  health 
was  undermined  by  his  restless  craving  for  riches, 
"  Oh,  believe  me,  you  may  buy  gold  too  dear."  It  is 
not  what  a  man  has,  but  what  he  is,  that  makes  him 
happy.  "A  man's  life,"  our  Lord  declares  to  us, 
'*  consisteth  not  in  the  abundance  of  the  things  which 
he  possesses."  His  real,  true,  happy  life  consists  in 
being  satisfied  with  what  he  has,  and  making  the 
best  of  it.  And  it  is  Christianity  alone  which  teaches 
a  man  to  say,  "  I  have  learned,  in  whatsoever  state  I 
am,  therewith  to  be  content." 

One  morning,  as  I  was  going  into  church  for  our 
daily  service,  an  old  man,  whom  I  had  known  and 
esteemed  for  many  years,  as  a  most  sincere,  con- 
sistent, humble-minded  Christian,  always  bright  and 
cheerful,  though  infirm  and  very  poor,  came  to  me 
leaning  on  his  two  sticks,  and  said,  "  If  you  please, 
sir,  could  you  say  that  thanksgiving  prayer  this  morn- 
ing, for  I'm  eighty  years  old  to-day,  and  I  should 
like  to  give  thanks  to  God  for  all  the  mercies  He 
has  sent  to  me."  Not  many  weeks  ago  that  old  man 
died,  and  the  last  words  he  spoke  to  me  as  I  sat  by 
his  bedside  were  these :  "  I'm  not  dying  in  darkness  ; 
I'm  dying  in  the  Light  of  Life."  I  ask  common 
sense,  is  it  not  worth  while  to  make  trial  of  a  religion 
which  through  a  long  life  "  gratefully  receives  what 


CHRISTIANITY  AND   COMMON  SENSE,  27 

Heaven  has  sent,  and  rich  in  poverty  enjoys  con- 
tent/' and  which  brings  a  man  such  peace  at  the 
last? 

In  addition  to  health,  competence,  and  contentment, 
it  is  the  verdict  of  public  opinion,  that  is,  of  our 
common  sense,  that  there  can  be  no  real  happiness 
without  freedom  from  anything  like  slavery — liberty 
of  thought,  word,  and  action.  Christianity  not  only 
endorses  this  conviction,  but  it  explains  what  real 
independence  is,  and  puts  it  within  reach  of  all. 
First  of  all,  it  does  away  with  shams  and  counter- 
feits, rubs  the  varnish  off  the  rotten  wood,  and  the 
electroplate  from  the  pewter.  It  shows  us  that  "  he 
is  a  freeman,  whom  the  Truth  makes  free,  and  all 
are  slaves  beside."  They  may  rule  kingdoms,  com- 
mand armies,  have  great  houses  full  of  servants,  great 
factories  full  of  operatives ;  but  if  they  cannot  rule 
their  passions,  govern  their  tempers,  they  are  slaves 
to  the  hardest  of  all  masters,  and  the  most  cruel  of 
all  tyrants — they  are  the  servants  of  sin.  They  may 
boast  of  their  liberty,  just  as  the  Jews  said  they 
were  never  in  bondage  to  any  man,  when  they  were 
not  only  under  a  Roman  Governor,  but  tied  and 
bound  with  the  chains  of  ignorance  and  its  twin 
brother  pride.  As  under  the  cap  o£  liberty  there  has 
been  bloodshed,  and  burning,  and  pillage ;  as  a  man 
may  call  himself  a  free  and  independent  elector  who 
has  just  got  £2  for  his  vote ;  as  we  hear  men  sing- 
ing "Rule  Britannia"  in  our  streets,  and  that 
"  Britons  never,  never,  never,  never  shall  be  slaves," 


28  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

when  they  are  abject  menials  of  drink — so  there  are 
multitudes  who  talk  of  freedom  who  don't  know,  or 
rather  won't  know,  what  it  is  to  be  free,  for  he  that 
committeth  sin  is  the  servant  of  sin — the  most  de- 
grading slavery  of  all,  which  "  drags  at  each  remove 
a  lengthening  chain."  How  it  separates  a  man  from 
his  manliness  !  How  it  silences  "  the  merry  laugh  of 
boyhood  "  !  How  it  destroys  the  blushing  beauty  of 
girlhood — the  "  shame  which  is  a  glory  and  grace  "  ! 

A  cruel  yoke  and  hard  weight  of  servitude  it  is  to 
be  subject  to  the  things  of  time,  to  be  ambitious  of 
the  things  of  earth,  to  cling  to  falling  things,  to  seek 
to  stand  on  things  that  stand  not,  to  desire  things 
that  pass  away,  but  to  be  unwilling  to  pass  away  with 
them.  For  while  all  things  fly  away  against  our 
wish,  those  things  which  had  at  first  harassed  the 
mind  in  desire  of  gaining  them,  now  oppress  it  with 
fear  of  losing  them.* 

What  a  mean  object  is  that  boisterous  Briton 
reeling  homeward  to  his  sick  wife  and  starving 
children !  What  a  despicable,  deceitful  sneak  is  that 
seducer  who  designs  the  ruin  of  his  neighbour's 
daughter,  or  the  dishonour  of  his  wife  !  What  evil 
schemes  are  in  his  heart!  What  hypocrisies  in  his 
acts !  What  lies  on  his  lips  !  What  hiding  and 
prowling  in  the  dark  !  for  "  the  way  of  the  wicked  is 
as  darkness ;  they  know  not  at  what  they  stumble." 
And  all  the  while  the  fearful  apprehensions  of  dis- 
covery, of  the  father's,  the  husband's  vengeance,  of 

*  St.  Gregory, 


CHRISTIANITY  AND   COMMON  SENSE.  29 

public  exposure  and  contempt ;  all  the  while  a  gloomy 
consciousness  that  their  life  is  false  and  wrong. 

My  brothers,  men  disgusted  with  sin,  seeking 
pardon  and  peace,  seeking  a  Saviour,  open  their 
hearts  sometimes  to  us  His  ministers,  and  they  tell 
us  such  things  as  these ;  *'  I  remember  the  time  when 
I  shrank  from  kissing  my  own  little  daughter — I  felt 
so  polluted  and  foul ;  I  remember  when  I  went  home 
one  night  and  found  my  wife,  with  whom  I  had  dealt 
so  treacherously,  kneeling  by  her  bedside  in  prayer. 
I  felt  as  if  God  struck  me." 

Who,  then,  is  free  ?  I  repeat  the  promise  of  the 
Master,  "The  truth  shall  make  you  free,"  and  I 
testify  to  its  fulfilment  with  all  true  believers :  "  He 
that  is  called  in  the  Lord,  though  he  be  a  servant, 
is  the  Lord's  freeman,"  for  the  service  of  God  is  per- 
fect freedom.  He  is  free  who,  with  a  conscience  void 
of  offence  towards  God  and  man,  is  striving  to  do  his 
duty  to  both.  The  only  perfect  liberty  is  the  glorious 
liberty  of  the  children  of  God.  The  only  real  in- 
dependence is  that  which  "  looks  the  whole  world  in 
the  face,  and  owes  not  any  man ; "  which  does  not 
care  to  ask  in  an  anxious  wonderment.  What  will 
folks  think  ?  what  will  neighbours  say  ?  because  it 
weighs  its  motives  and  measures  its  actions  by  the 
scales  and  standards  of  God.  It  is  not  afraid  of  the 
scornful  reproof  of  the  wealthy,  nor  of  the  despite- 
fulness  of  the  proud, — never  afraid  to  speak  the  truth 
and  to  stand  up  for  the  right.  They  who  havethjs 
true   liberty   know   better  than   to   do  homs^  _    ^  _ 

•^  /7°  OF  TKE 

{  ^N/VERSITV 

V  r       °^  • 


30  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN, 

service  to  a  world  which,  were  they  to  die  to-morrow, 
would  think  itself  every  whit  as  well,  and  go  on  quite 
as  merrily,  without  them.     "  Their  death  a  nine  days' 
wonder,"  as  yours  and  mine  will  be.     But  what  of 
that,  if  the  part  which  cannot  die  is  safe  for  eternity  ? 
Common  sense  suggests  another  element  of  happi- 
ness— the  good  will  of  our  fellow-men.     A  man  may 
profess  to  disregard  it,  and  may  set  his  hat  on  one 
side  and  put  his  hands  in  his  pockets,  and  sing  with 
the  Scotch  miller,  "  I  care  for  nobody,  and  nobody 
cares   for  me ; "  but  he  is   a  gregarious  animal,  and 
must  have  sympathies.     To  be  happy  he  must  love 
and  be  loved.      But  you  cannot  buy  love,  for  the 
merchandise  of  it  is  better  than  the  merchandise  of 
silver,  and  the  gain  thereof  than  fine  gold.      You 
may  buy  admiration,  praise,  adulation ;  but  you  can- 
not buy  love.     Common  sense  longs  for  it,  but  cannot 
find  it.     Philosophy  never  defined  it.     Philanthropy 
lives  in  the  precincts,  but  has  not  entered  the  shrine. 
Only  religion,  Christianity,  tells  us  what   it  is  and 
bestows  it.     It  is  the  communion  of  the  soul  rising 
heavenward  in  thankful  adoration  unto    Him  who 
made,  who  redeemed,  and  who  sanctifies.      "  We  love 
Him,  because  He  first  loved  us;"  and  then  "  this  com- 
mandment have   we  from  Him,  that  we  who  love 
God  love  our  brother  also."     It  is  the  communion  of 
the  heart  with  its  fellow-men  in  a  sympathy  which 
includes  them  all    Because  Christianity  alone  reveals 
to  us  the  dignity  and  the  danger  of  each  individual 
soul. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  COMMON  SENSE.  3 1 

When  I  realize  how  precious  my  own  life  is  ("  when 
I  survey  the  wondrous  Cross  "),  and  see  the  price  that 
has  been  paid  to  save  it,  and  when  at  the  same  time 
I  am  conscious  that  I  may  neglect  and  lose  so  great 
a  salvation ;  when  I  contrast  the  divine  intentions 
with  my  feeble  selfish  life ;  when  I  contrast  what  has 
been  with  what  might  have  been  done ;  when  I  think 
of  the  failures  of  the  past  and  the  temptations  of  the 
present; — why,  then  I  realize  the  worth  and  the 
peril  of  your  soul,  my  brother ;  of  every  living  man 
in  His  sight,  who  is  no  respecter  of  persons,  and  I 
seem  to  have  a  brother's  sadness  in  your  sorrows,  and 
a  brother's  gladness  in  your  hopes.  And  this  love 
creates  love.  Like  a  bugle  among  the  hills  and  dales, 
it  "  sets  the  echoes  flying."  To  be  at  enmity  with 
God  is  to  be  at  enmity  with  man.  "  When  I  was  in 
opposition  to  Thee,"  writes  a  saint,  "  I  was  contrary 
to  myself  and  to  all  men."  * 

Acquaint,  therefore,  thyself  with  Him,  and  be  at 
peace.  Seek  His  love ;  for  all  the  things  thou  canst 
desire  are  not  to  be  compared  unto  it.  It  is  to  all 
mere  human  afiection  as  the  daylight  to  a  taper's 
flame ;  nay,  it  is  brighter,  warmer  than  the  sun  itself, 
for  it  is  the  smile  of  a  loving  God. 

o 

♦  St.  Bernard. 


III. 
WORK. 

"  To  every  mau  his  work."— St.  Mark  xiii.  34. 

I  HAVE  spoken  of  work,  successful  work,  as  being, 
according  to  the  common  sense,  the  consensus,  of 
intelligent  men,  a  chief  element  of  human  happiness. 
What  does  Christianity  teach  ?  The  working  men 
heard  Christ  gladly,  not  only  because  He  was  one  of 
themselves,  and  they  had  seen  Him  at  the  carpenter's 
bench,  with  the  saw  and  the  hammer  in  His  hand, 
but  because  He  taught  by  precept  and  example  the 
duty  and  the  dignity  and  the  happiness  of  work. 

The  civilization  and  philosophy  of  Greece  and 
Rome  regarded  with  disdain  the  hewers  of  wood  and 
drawers  of  water;  -rich  men  treated  their  "slaves," 
as  they  called  them,  as  mere  machines  and  beasts  of 
burden,  and  they  laughed  at  Cicero  when  he  spoke, 
with  tears  in  his  eyes,  of  some  old  servant  who  had 
died.  Christianity  brought  a  new  light,  a  new  life,  a 
new  hope,  a  new  happiness,  to  the  working  man,  and 
all  the  circumstances  of  the  Incarnation,  all  that  they 


woRfC.  33 

saw  of  the  Incarnate,  and  all  they  heard  from  His 
lips,  were  irresistible  appeals  to  their  sympathy. 

When  God  sent  His  angels  to  proclaim  to  a  fallen 
world,  "  Unto  you  is  born  this  day  in  the  city  of  David 
a  Saviour,  which  is  Christ  the  Lord,"  when 

"  The  praises  of  redeeming  love  they  sang, 
And  heaven's  whole  orb  with  Alleluias  rang," 

who  heard  the  first  notes  of  that  glorious  song  ?  It 
was  not  sung  in  kings'  palaces,  nor  in  schools  of 
philosophy,  but  to  rough  shepherds  keeping  watch  by 
night,  at  work,  on  duty.     And  when 

"  To  Bethlehem  straight  the  enlightened  shepherds  ran, 
To  see  the  wonders  God  had  wrought  for  man, 
They  found  with  Joseph  and  the  Blessed  Maid 
Her  Son,  the  Saviour,  in  a  manger  laid." 

Who  shall  complain  of  his  mean  raiment  or  his 
humble  home  when  he  thinks  of  the  Divine  Babe 
wrapped  in  swaddling-clothes  that  winter's  night  in 
the  stable,  for  "  there  was  no  room  for  them  in  the 
inn"? 

And  when  He  grew  to  man's  estate,  and  those 
very  hands  which  were  made  hard  with  work 
touched  the  blind  eyes  and  they  saw,  the  deaf  and 
the  dumb  and  they  heard  and  spoke — nay,  the  dead 
and  they  rose  to  life  again— well  might  men  cry 
in  their  surprise  of  astonishment,  "  Is  not  this  the 
carpenter  ? " 

Whom  did  He  select  to  establish  His  kingdom  and 


34  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

to  convert  the  world  ?  I  suppose  that,  of  all  those 
first  great  Apostolic  missioners,  St.  Paul  was  the  only- 
one  who  had  received  the  highest  form  of  education ; 
and  he,  as  he  tells  us,  worked  with  his  own  hands, 
and  when  he  came  from  preaching  in  the  synagogue 
wrought  with  Aquila  and  Priscilla  in  tent-making, 
having  learned  the  same  occupation.  Our  Lord  re- 
garded not  the  clever  disputers  of  this  world,  the 
famous  orators  and  preachers,  the  learned  expounders 
of  the  law,  the  erudite  scribes,  the  pretentious  Phari- 
sees, but  He  chose  the  foolish  things  of  the  world  to 
confound  the  wise,  and  the  weak  to  confound  the 
mighty.  Well  might  that  world  wonder  when  Peter 
the  fisherman  spake  to  the  poor  cripple,  "  Silver  and 
gold  have  I  none  ...  in  the  Name  of  Jesus  Christ  of 
Nazareth  rise  and  walk,"  and  he,  leaping  up,  stood 
and  walked.  Well  might  the  rulers  and  elders,  and 
Annas  the  high  priest,  and  Caiaphas,  gather  together 
in  their  perplexity,  when  many  which  heard  the 
Word  believed,  and  the  number  was  about  five 
thousand.  "  And  when  they  saw  the  boldness  of 
Peter  and  John,  and  perceived  that  they  were  un- 
learned and  ignorant  men,  they  marvelled,  and 
took  knowledge  of  them,  that  they  had  been  with 
Jesus." 

•  So  you  see,  my  brothers,  how  Christianity  exalts, 
ennobles,  consecrates,  work.  God  has  condescended 
to  reveal  Himself,  through  His  Son,  as  a  working 
God.  "  My  Father  worketh  hitherto,  and  I  work." 
"With  all   reverence   be   it  spoken,"   writes   Bishop 


WORK.  35 

Christopher  Wordsworth, "  the  Architect,  Painter,  and 
Sculptor  of  the  universe  is  Almighty  God."  Hence 
the  name  ^-nfiiovpyoQ,  "  Worker  for  the  people,"  was 
given  to  Him  by  the  Platonic  school  of  philosophy 
and  by  the  Christian  Fathers.  Some  speak  of  creation 
as  though  the  Creator  had  made  and  left  it,  a  perfect 
piece  of  self-acting  machinery,  which  would  regulate 
itself,  and  go  on  for  ever ;  but  God  worketh,  governs 
and  maintains,  and  "  as  surely  as  the  light  fails  when 
the  sun  sets,"  writes  St.  Augustine,  "so  would  all 
nature  collapse  if  God  withdrew  His  providential 
care." 

"  And  I  work."  None  ever  worked  as  Christ 
worked.  As  a  child,  in  the  perfect  obedience  of  love ; 
as  a  boy,  in  learning  wisdom,  both  hearing  and 
asking  questions  from  the  wise,  God's  appointed 
teachers ;  as  a  man,  bodily  in  hard  daily  labour,  and 
spiritually  in  preparation  for  His  ministry;  and 
when  the  time  came  that  He  must  show  Himself  to 
the  world,  how  patiently  He  persevered  in  the  work 
which  His  Father  had  given  Him  to  do,  until  by  His 
Agony  and  Bloody  Sweat,  by  His  Cross  and  Passion, 
it  was  finished  on  earth,  and  begun  in  the  souls 
which  He  nourishes  with  His  grace,  and  in  which, 
by  the  Holy  Communion  of  His  Body  and  His  Blood, 
He  fulfils  His  most  loving  promise,  "  I  will  not  leave 
you  comfortless,  I  will  come  to  you ; "  begun  in 
heaven,  where  He  ever  liveth  to  make  intercession 
for  us,  and  is  preparing  for  them  that  love  Him  such 
good  things  as  pass  man's  understanding. 


36  ADDRESSES   TO    WORKING  MEN. 

Christianity  not  only  abolished  slavery,  but  taught 
the  dignity  and  happiness  of  work.     It  was  still 

"  The  primal  curse, 
But  softened  into  mercy,  made  the  pledge 
Of  cheerful  days  and  nights  without  a  groan." 

It  largely  restored  that  enjoyment  of  labour  which 
man  knew  when  he  was  first  placed  by  his  Maker  in 
a  garden  to  dress  and  to  keep  it,  and  which  he  would 
have  always  welcomed,  without  pain  or  weariness,  if 
he  had  not  abused  his  freedom.  There  would  have 
been  no  sweating  and  grinding,  no  ache  of  brow  or 
limb,  no  poisonous  fumes,  no  blackening  smoke,  had 
there  been  no  sin.  Wherever  it  produces  suffering 
or  disease,  it  is  because  of  a  selfishness  which  is  sin ; 
but  wherever  it  is  honest  work  well  done,  it  brings 
happiness.  It  may.  at  first  be  irksome,  but  from  a 
brave  patience  it  becomes  a  habit,  and  then  content- 
ment and  joy.  It  matters  not  what  or  where  our 
work  may  be,  work  of  the  hand  or  the  head ;  whether 
we  be  masters  or  servants,  rich  or  poor,  clever  or 
dull;  whether  we  command  an  ironclad  or  stoke 
its  fires;  whether  our  work  be  in  the  study  or  the 
counting-house,  in  the  factory  or  the  field,  high  up 
on  the  builder's  scafibld  or  low  down  in  the  mine ; — 
the  question  which  you  and  I  shall  have  to  answer 
at  last  will  be,  not.  Where  were  you  placed  ?  but, 
Did  you  make  the  most  of  your  position  ? — not.  What 
kind  of  work  did  you  do  ?  but.  Did  you  do  your 
best? 

And  so  to  every  man,  whether  he  does  it  or  not, 


God  gives  liim  a  work  to  do.  Whether  he  does  it  or 
no  is  not  your  affair,  except  that  you  are  bound,  as 
a  Christian,  to  help  him  if  you  can,  to  "bear  one 
another's  burdens ; "  and  the  best  help  you  can  give 
him  is  by  example.  Beyond  this,  what  he  does  or 
leaves  undone  is  no  concern  of  yours.  "  Who  art  thou 
that  judgest  another  ?  to  his  own  Master  he  shall 
stand  or  fall ;  '*  "  Every  man  must  give  account  of 
himself  unto  God ; "  "  Every  man  shall  receive  the 
reward  of  his  own  labour ;  "  "  The  soul  that  sinneth, 
it  shall  die  ;  "  "  Let  every  man  prove  his  own  work, 
for  every  man  shall  bear  his  own  burden." 

"To  every  man  his  work;"  and  therefore  all  evasions 
and  excuses,  all  idleness,  are  a  shameful  degradation 
of  our  manhood  and  a  mean  abuse  of  our  liberty ; 
they  are  rebellious  and  offensive  to  God,  and  they 
are  an  injustice  and  a  deprivation  to  mankind,  where- 
as every  honest  work  well  done  is  acceptable  and 
well  pleasing,  beautiful  in  His  all-seeing  sight,  and 
helpful  to  His  creatures.  God  gives  it  (if  it  is  not 
for  the  use,  comfort,  and  happiness  of  your  fellow-men 
it  is  none  of  His),  and  therefore,  whatever  it  be,  it  is 
honourable  in  His  esteem.  Whether  it  be  simple  or 
scientific,  for  the  hands  or  the  head,  in  the  dockyard 
or  the  barracks,  on  land  or  sea,  whether  you  are 
working  for  yourself  or  for  others,  you  are  in  God's 
employment,  and  you  are  responsible  to  Him,  not  for 
the  kind  of  task  which  was  given — that  is  fixed — 
but  for  the  manner  in  which  you  have  accepted  and 
achieved  it. 


38  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

We  are  too  apt,  looking  only  at  results,  to  forget 
and  to  underrate  the  labour  whicli  has  produced 
them.  We  admire  the  great  ships  steaming  out 
to  sea,  the  express  engine  gliding  over  the  rails  at 
fifty  miles  an  hour;  but  we  have  never  a  thought 
of  the  strong  men  toiling  in  dark  mines  for  the  iron 
and  the  coal,  without  which  these  had  never  been. 
As  we  gaze  upon  our  grand  cathedrals  and  churches, 
with  their  exquisite  carving  in  wood  and  stone,  we 
shall  do  well  to  remember  not  only  the  builder  and 
the  graver,  Bezaleel  and  Aholiab,  but  those  who,  like 
Solomon's  and  Hiram's  workmen  three  thousand  years 
ago,  prepared  the  stone  and  the  timber,  and  bore  the 
burden  and  heat  of  the  day. 

We  rejoice  in  the  records  of  our  victory,  and  repeat 
to  our  children  the  names  of  our  heroes;  but  these 
warriors,  generals,  and  admirals  would  be  the  first  to 
tell  you  that  their  battles  were  won  by  the  brave 
obedience  of  the  soldiers  and  sailors  whom  they  led. 
The  field-marshal  and  the  bugler,  the  architect  and 
the  mason,  the  engineer  and  the  navvy,  must  all 
work  together.  As  St.  Paul  told  the  Corinthians, 
"  The  body  is  not  one  member,  but  many.  .  .  .  The  eye 
cannot  say  to  the  hand,  I  have  no  need  of  thee ; 
neither  the  head  to  the  feet,  I  have  no  need  of  you. 
Nay,  much  more  those  members  of  the  body,  which 
seem  to  be  more  feeble  are  necessary." 

A  ship  may  be  saved  or  lost  in  a  storm  through 
the  strong  work  or  the  scamp-work  of  a  carpenter, 
as  through  the  good  seamanship  or  the  ignorance  of 


WORK.  39 

a  captain.  It  is  written  that  "  if  there  is  a  readiness 
of  will,  there  will  be  a  performance  also  of  that  which 
we  have ;  for  if  there  be  first  a  willing  mind,  it  is 
accepted  according  to  that  a  man  hath,  and  not 
accordinor  to  that  he  hath  not." 

And  so  he  is  a  nobleman  in  God's  peerage,  who 
goes  out  every  morning,  it  may  be,  from  the  humblest 
of  homes  to  his  work  and  to  his  labour  until  the 
evening,  with  a  determination,  as  working  for  a 
heavenly  Master,  to  do  his  best ;  and  no  titles  which 
this  world  can  bestow,  no  money  which  was  ever 
coined,  can  bring  a  man  who  does  no  work  within 
the  sunshine  of  God's  love.  Solomon  knew,  and 
Solomon  said,  "  The  sleep  of  the  labouring  man  is 
sweet,  whether  he  eat  little  or  much  :  but  the  abun- 
dance of  the  rich  will  not  suffer  him  to  sleep."  Weari- 
ness will  snore  upon  the  flint,  while  sloth  finds  the 
down  pillow  hard. 

So  that  we  must  never  be  so  unjust  and  foolish 
as  to  despise  any  work,  however  subordinate,  or  to 
think  more  highly  of  ourselves  than  we  ought  to 
think,  because  we  are  placed  in  more  prominent 
positions,  and  seem  to  have  more  important  duties 
to  perform  ;  because  we  may  have  servants  instead 
of  serving,  better  homes,  clothing,  or  food ;  but  should 
rather  pass  the  time  of  our  sojourning  here  in  fear 
of  our  greater  responsibilities,  and  of  the  words  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  which  He  spake :  "  How  hardly  shall 
they  that  have  riches  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  1 "     "  Son,  remember  that  thou  in  thy  lifetime 


40  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

hadst  thy  good  things,  and  likewise  Lazarus  evil 
things;  but  now  he  is  comforted,  and  thou  art 
tormented," 

The  only  man  who  has  no  claim  upon  your  i-espect, 
but  much  claim  upon  your  pity,  is  the  man  who 
does  no  work,  or  as  little  and  as  badly  as  he  can. 
Sometimes  you  hear  it  said,  "  Such  a  one  is  well-to- 
do  ;  he  has  a  good  income ;  he  has  no  need  to  work." 
He  has  all  the  more  need,  because  he  has  larger 
opportunities  for  working  to  the  glory  of  Him  who 
has  given  him  the  means,  and  to  the  good  of  his 
fellow-men. 

Do  you  believe  in  the  man  with  his  hands  in  his 
pockets  and  his  pipe  always  in  his  mouth  ?  Would 
you  choose  him  for  your  friend  ?  Would  you  go  to 
him  for  advice  ?  Can  you  envy  him  ?  Can  you  think 
for  one  moment  that  he  who  does  no  work — a  fruit- 
less tree,  a  well  without  water — is  happier  than  the 
man  who  has  been  using  the  power  which  God  gave 
him  for  his  own  good  and  that  of  his  neighbour  ? 

It  is  in  all  ranks  of  society,  in  every  period  of  life, 
a  great  deception  to  think  that  others  are  happier 
than  we  are,  and  so  to  covet  and  desire  other  men's 
goods.  David  himself  was  grieved  to  see  the  ungodly 
in  such  prosperity ;  they  seemed  to  come  to  no  mis- 
fortune like  other  folk;  but  he  went  to  the  place 
where  he  had  met  them  in  their  pride  and  finery, 
and  they  were  gone — perished.  No  more  jealousy, 
no  more  complaint.  "I  would  rather  be  a  door- 
keeper," he  said,  "  in  the  house  of  my  God,  than  dwell 


WORK.  41 

in  the  tents  of  ungodliness/'  even  as  another  of  God's 
heroes,  Moses,  "refused  to  be  called  the  son  of 
Pharaoh's  daughter,  choosing  rather  to  suffer  afflic- 
tion with  the  people  of  God,  than  to  enjoy  the 
pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season." 

There  are  other  motives,  and  good  motives  too, 
which  induce  men  to  work,  and  to  work  well.  It  is 
a  righteous  ambition  to  desire  success  and  to  use  our 
energies  to  obtain  it— "to  gain  by  trading."  It  is 
honest  and  just  to  say,  *'I  receive  payment,  on  the 
understanding  that  I  will  be  industrious  and  earn 
the  wages  I  receive,  and  I  mean  to  be  true  to  my 
engagement."  And  that  is  a  true  and  tender  affection 
which  works  to  sustain  those  who  are  nearest  and 
dearest  to  the  worker's  heart,  and  needs  not  the  warn- 
ing of  the  Apostle,  "He  that  provideth  not  for  his 
own,  and  especially  for  those  of  his  own  house,  hath 
denied  the  faith,  and  is  worse  than  an  infidel."  There 
are  few  sadder  sights  than  the  home  of  the  sluggard, 
the  drunkard,  the  gambler,  where  there  is  want 
instead  of  plenty,  dirt  instead  of  cleanliness,  and 
misery  where  there  might  be  peace. 

I  repeat  that  men  may  be  industrious,  honest,  and 
affectionate  from  the  motives  which  I  have  named  ; 
but,  by  themselves,  these  'are  weak  against  temp- 
tation, and,  at  the  best,  they  promote  only  our 
temporal  welfare.  The  work  which  God  has  given 
every  man  to  do  includes  not  only  to  work  for  the 
body,  but  for  the  soul ;  not  only  for  earth,  but  heaven. 
"  Work  out  your  salvation ; "  and  there  is  only  one 


42  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

principle,  one  conviction,  which  can  constrain  us  per- 
sistently to  do  our  best— the  belief  that  we  are  the 
servants  of  One  who  is  no  respecter  of  persons,  and 
who,  whether  we  fulfil  or  neglect  our  duties,  whether 
we  watch  and  pray,  or  whether  we  say,  "  My  Lord 
delayeth  His  coming,"  and  begin  to  smite  our  fellow- 
servants,  and  to  eat  and  drink  with  the  drunken,  will 
come  when  we  look  not  for  Him,  and  will  reward 
every  man  according  to  his  works. 

This  acknowledgment  will  act  upon  our  lives  and 
conversation  through  the  two  most  powerful  agents 
which  influence  our  thoughts  and  words  and  actions 
— fear  and  love.  We  know  what  fear  is  with  regard 
to  those  placed  over  us  on  earth,  of  disobedient 
children  towards  their  parents,  of  idle  scholars  to- 
wards their  teachers,  of  criminals  on  trial  towards 
those  who  try  them,  of  the  deceitful  and  unfaithful 
towards  their  friends,  of  dishonest  men  towards  their 
employers — the  fear  of  being  found  out  and  punished. 
How  much  more,  then,  should  we  be  afraid  of  offend- 
ing our  heavenly  Father,  our  divine  Teacher,  the 
Holy  Spirit  sent  to  teach  us  all  things,  the  only 
Saviour,  the  righteous  Judge,  the  Master  who  has 
given  to  every  man  his  work,  the  Lord  of  the  vine- 
yard who  when  the  even  is  come  will  say  unto 
His  steward,  "Call  the  labourers  and  give  them 
their  hire/* 

We  may  evade  condemnation  and  chastisement  by 
false  excuses  to  our  earthly  masters,  but  "  the  eyes  of 
the  Lord  are  in  every  place,  beholding  the  evil  and 


woRic.  43 

the  good."  The  voice  which  Adam  heard  when  he 
thought  to  hide  himself  among  the  trees  of  the 
garden  speaks  to  every  guilty  ear,  "Where  art  thou  ?" 
— to  every  one  who  is  faint-hearted  and  afraid,  and 
shrinks  from  the  work  which  God  has  given  him, 
"  What  doest  thou  here,  Elijah  ?  " — and  to  all  who 
forget  Him  and  go  on  still  in  their  wickedness, 
"These  things  hast  thou  done,  and  thou  thoughtest 
wickedly  that  I  am  even  such  an  one  as  thyself;  but 
I  will  reprove  thee,  and  set  before  thee  the  things 
that  thou  hast  done." 

The  time  comes  to  every  man,  but  to  some  it 
comes  too  late,  when 

*'  The  ghosts  of  forgotten  actions 

Are  floating  before  his  sight, 
And  things  which  he  thought  were  dead  tilings 

Are  alive  with  a  terrible  might  ; 
And  the  vision  of  all  his  p^st  lifQ 

Is  an  awful  thing  to  face, 
Alone  with  his  conscience,  sitting 

In  some  solemn,  silent  place." 

Wherefore  it  is  written,  "  The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the 
beginning  of  wisdom;"  "  Pass  the  time  of  your  sojourn- 
ing here  in  fear." 

But  we  have  a  revelation  from  Himself  that  God  is 
love,  and  though  He  is  greatly  to  be  feared  even  in 
the  council  of  His  saints,  and  to  be  had  in  reverence 
of  all  those  that  are  round  about  Him,  yet  the  mercy 
of  the  Lord  is  from  everlasting  to  everlasting  upon 
them  that  fear  Him,  until  perfect  love  casteth  out  fear. 
And  I  would  ask  again,  if  our  love  of  earthly  parents 
is  so  intense  and  indelible,  what  bound  can  there  be 


44  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

to  our  devoted  aflfection  for   Him  who  made   them 
and  us  ? 

"  No  eartlil y  father  loves  like  Thee ; 
No  mother,  e'er  so  mild, 
Bears  and  forbears  as  Thou  hast  done 
With  me,  Tliy  sinful  child." 

Very  marvellous  are  the  records,  very  marvellous 
is  our  own  experience,  of  the  power  of  human  love. 
Jacob's  long  service,  beneath  the  burning  heat  of  the 
summer  day  and  in  the  piercing  cold  of  the  winter 
night,  for  Rachel.  Ruth's  anxious  prayer,  "Entreat 
me  not  to  leave  thee,  nor  to  return  from  following 
after  thee :  for  whither  thou  goest,  I  w^ill  go ;  and 
where  thou  lodges t,  I  will  lodge :  thy  people  shall  be 
my  people,  and  thy  God  my  God :  where  thou  diest, 
will  I  die,  and  there  will  I  be  buried :  the  Lord  do 
so  to  me,  and  more  also,  if  aught  but  death  part 
thee  and  me."  David's  lamentation,  "  I  am  distressed 
for  thee,  my  brother  Jonathan:  very  pleasant  hast 
thou  been  unto  me :  thy  love  to  me  was  wonderful, 
passing  the  love  of  women."  Or  again,  "And  the 
king  was  much  moved,  and  went  up  to  his  chamber 
over  the  gate;  and  as  he  went,  thus  he  said,  O 
my  son  Absalom,  my  son,  my  son  Absalom !  would 
God  I  had  died  for  thee,  O  Absalom,  my  son,  my 
son!" 

And  you  yourselves  also  know  the  intense  affec- 
tion, faithful  unto  death,  of  parents  and  children, 
husbands  and  wives,  friends  for  friends;  but  "God 
so  loved  the  world,  that  He  gave  His  only  begotten 


WORK,  45 

Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  Him  should  not 
perish,  but  should  have  everlasting  life  ; "  and  Christ 
so  loved  the  world  that  He  took  upon  Him  the  form 
of  a  servant,  and  though  He  was  despised  and  rejected 
of  men,  He  humbled  Himself  even  to  the  death  upon 
the  Cross.  Men  have  died  in  fire  and  water  to  save 
others,  men  have  died  in  battle  for  their  country  ; 
but  Christ,  and  Christ  only^  died  for  His  enemies. 

"  For  the  love  of  God  is  broader 

Than  the  measure  of  man's  mind, 
And  the  heart  of  the  Eternal 
Is  most  wonderfully  kind." 

If,  then,  we  fear  the  censure  of  our  rulers  and 
employers  and  teachers  on  earth,  the  loss  of  influence 
or  money  from  not  doing  our  work,  or  doing  it  badly ; 
and  if,  on  the  other  hand,  we  take  pleasure  in  it  and 
do  it  with  our  might  because  we  love  him  for  whom 
we  do  it,  or  love  the  work  itself;  how  much  more 
should  we  stand  in  awe  of  that  terrible  voice  of  most 
just  judgment,  "  Depart  ...  I  never  knew  you ;  "  "Out 
of  thine  own  mouth  will  I  judge  thee,  thou  wicked 
servant "  !  What,  if  a  promise  being  left  to  us  of 
coming  into  His  rest,  any  of  us  should  seem  to  come 
short  of  it !  What,  if  we  should  see  the  glories  and 
hear  the  music  of  heaven,  and  then  the  golden  gates 
should  be  shut,  and  we  in  outer  darkness ! 

On  the  other  side,  if  obedience  is  so  easy  when  we 
not  only  love  those  who  command,  but  know  that  they 
will  reward  us  generously  ;  if  we  follow  so  readily  and 
Ijravely  those  whom  we  trust ;  how  much  more  humbly, 


46  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

yet  heartily,  should  we  do  our  duty  in  that  state  of 
life  to  which  He  is  pleased  to  call  us,  who  is  our 
Master,  our  Saviour,  and  Judge ! 

Again,  if  children  go  to  their  parents,  pupils  to  their 
teachers,  they  who  serve  to  those  who  rule  in  a 
household,  they  who  work  in  the  fields  to  the  farmer, 
apprentices  to  a  foreman,  clerks  to  a  chief,  soldiers 
and  sailors  to  their  officers,  to  ask  and  to  receive 
instruction,  how  much  more  should  we  go  to  our 
Master  in  heaven  and  pray  to  Him  for  guidance  in 
all  the  work,  temporal  and  spiritual,  which  He  has 
given  us  to  do,  having  His  promise  which  cannot  fail, 
that  He  will  give  His  Holy  Spirit,  if  we  ask  in  faith, 
nothing  doubting  (in  His  own  time  and  way,  not  in 
ours,  for  we  know  not  what  to  pray  for  as  we  ought), 
to  guide  us  into  all  truth  and  to  strengthen  us  in  all 
good  works  ?  "  If  ye,  being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good 
gifts  unto  your  children,  how  much  more  shall  your 
Father  which  is  in  heaven  give  good  things  to  them 
that  ask  Him  ? "  If  in  all  our  vocations,  trades,  and 
professions  we  require  written  rules  and  directions, 
grammars,  dictionaries,  text-books,  red-books,  which 
will  inform  and  not  mislead  us,  shall  we  not  often 
and  anxiously  search  the  Holy  Scriptures,  which  are 
able  to  make  us  wise  unto  salvation  through  faith 
which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  ? 

And  to  us  especially,  to  whom,  all  unworthy  as  we 
are,  is  committed  the  sacred  work  of  the  ministry, 
these  commands  are  given  to  pray  and  study  God's 
Word.     How  can  we  expect  men  to  comply  when  we 


WORK.  4/ 

repeat  St.  Paul's  injunction,  "Let  a  man  so  account 
of  us  as  ministers  of  Christ  and  stewards  of  the 
mysteries  of  Christ,"  unless,  as  of  old,  they  take 
knowledge  that  we  have  been  with  Jesus,  and  have 
our  instructions  as  well  as  our  authority  from  Him  ? 
How  shall  we  entreat  you  to  pray,  in  secret,  with 
your  families,  and  in  the  house  of  prayer,  if  we  are 
not  fervent  in  our  own  supplications  ?  How  summon 
you  to  worship  unless  we  give  you  frequent  oppor-. 
t unities  to  meet  and  join  with  us  in  the  place  of 
worship,  unless  the  houses  of  God  are  open  con- 
tinually and  free  to  all  ?  How  shall  we  invite 
others  to  the  gospel  feast,  to  Holy  Communion, 
to  the  Supper  of  the  Lord,  unless  we  ourselves  come 
often  holy  and  clean  to  such  a  heavenly  feast,  be- 
lieving in  our  hearts  that  our  sinful  bodies  are  made 
clean  by  His  Body,  and  our  souls  washed  through 
his  precious  Blood  ?  How  shall  we  bid  you  to  "  obey 
them  that  are  over  you  in  the  Lord,  and  esteem  them 
very  highly  in  love  for  their  works'  sake,"  unless  we 
are  ourselves  obedient,  unless  our  work  is  well  done, 
unless  we  watch  for  souls  as  they  that  must  give 
account. 

,  And  in  this  case,  as  in  all  others,  God  teaches  us 
not  only  by  His  Spirit  in  our  hearts,  His  Word  in  our 
ears,  not  only  by  command  and  direction,  by  the  sweet 
persuasions  and  promises  of  His  mercy,  by  the  fearful 
warnings  of  His  justice,  but  by  example  also.  There 
is  no  record  of  great  men  whom  we  admire  in  history, 
there  is  no  remembrance  of  anything  in  our  own  lives 


IWIVFO?^»T>( 


48  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

which  we  retain  with  gladness,  which  does  not  assure 
us  that  no  addition  was  ever  made  to  the  greatness 
of  a  nation,  to  the  honour  and  the  happiness  of  a 
life,  without  hard  work.  No  discoveries  of  science, 
no  masterpieces  of  art,  were  accomplished  without 
patient  labour.  And  this  applies  to  every  individual 
soul. 

Copying  those  who  have  done  their  best,  you  do 
in  God's  sight  as  well  as  they ;  and  to  the  lowliest 
and  poorest  who  has  so  laboured  it  will  be  said  at 
last,  "  Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant :  thou  hast 
been  faithful  over  a  few  things,  I  will  make  thee 
ruler  over  many  things :  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of 
thy  Lord." 

Was  it  not  for  this,  think  you,  that  the  most  high 
God  took  upon  Him  the  form  of  a  servant  ?  Was  it 
not  to  teach  us  this,  that  the  words  were  spoken  to  all 
mankind,  "  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  thou  shalt  eat 
bread,"  and  He,  who  increased  in  wisdom  and  stature 
and  in  favour  with  God  and  man,  was  born  in  a  stable, 
lived  in  a  poor  man's  home,  and  toiled  with  the  saw 
and  the  plane  ? 

My  brothers,  should  not  such  thoughts  as  these 
encourage  us  to  do  our  work,  whatever  it  may  be, 
more  heartily,  more  hopefully,  because  God  gives  it 
to  us,  and  because,  if  whatever  our  hand  findeth  to 
do  we  do  it  with  our  might,  if  we  are  fervent  in 
spirit,  as  serving  the  Lord,  He  has  promised  us  His 
blessing  here  and  for  ever  ?  Should  not  thoughts  like 
these  silence  for  ever  those  miserable  excuses,  that 


WORK.  49 

men  are  so  busy  that  they  have  no  time  for  religion  ; 
whereas  their  business,  their  work,  the  way  they  do  it, 
is  their  religion  ?  To  ignore  the  Divine  Presence  is  to 
live  without  God  in  this  world  and  the  next ;  to  lean 
solely  upon  our  own  understanding,  to  do  only  that 
which  is  right  in  our  own  eyes,  is  the  darkest  of  all 
ignorance,  and  can  only  end  in  failure ;  but  to  work 
as  in  His  sight,  and  for  Him,  is  the  truest  worship 
which  we  can  offer  on  earth,  and  the  main  preparation 
for  His  worship  in  heaven. 

Work  is  life,  and  idleness  is  death,  to  body,  mind, 
and  soul.  Work  is  like  the  river,  broad  and  deep 
and  brimming  over,  which  keeps  the  meadows  green ; 
idleness  is  the  stagnant  marsh  which  exhales  the 
pestilence.  Work  makes  the  flowers  and  fruits,  idle- 
ness the  weeds  and  barren  trees  of  the  garden.  Work 
brightens  the  metal  with  friction,  and  idleness  corrodes 
with  rust.  The  man  at  work,  on  duty,  welcomes  the 
approach  of  his  master ;  the  idle  man  would  hide  if  he 
could. 

It  will  be  so,  when  it  is  our  time  to  die,  whether 
death  comes  suddenly  or  slowly,  in  the  peaceful  home, 
in  the  silent  room,  or  amid  the  horrors  of  war,  or  the 
terrible  crash  of  the  collision  and  the  wreck.  In  that 
supreme  crisis,  the  faithful  servant  shall  hear  the 
Master's  voice,  "  When  thou  liest  down,  thou  shalt 
not  be  afraid ;  yea,  thou  shalt  lie  down,  and  thy  sleep 
shall  be  sweet." 

But  in  death  as  in  life,  the  wicked — they  who  left 
undone  the  work  which  God  gave  them  to  do,  and 

E 


50  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

followed  their  own  imaginations — are  like  the  troubled 
sea,  which  cannot  rest.  "  There  is  no  peace,  saith  my 
God,  to  the  wicked." 

And  in  that  great  day,  when  every  one  of  us  shall 
give  account  of  himself  unto  God,  and  be  judged 
according  to  his  works,  only  to  those  who  have  done 
the  work  which  He  gave  them  to  do,  shall  the  Lord 
of  Glory  repeat  the  words  which  He  spake  in  His 
humiliation  on  earth,  "Look  up,  and  lift  up  your 
hearts,  for  your  redemption  draweth  nigh;"  but  to 
the  slothful  and  impenitent  those  terrible  words  of 
righteous  judgment, "  Cast  ye  the  unprofitable  servant 
into  outer  darkness." 


IV. 
TRUE  EDUCATION. 

"Where  is  the  flock  that  was  given  thee,  thy  beautiful  flock?" 
— Jer.  xii.  26. 

Kings  and  queens  will  have  to  answer  this  question 
when  the  great  day  of  account  shall  come.  *'  Where 
is  .the  flock  that  was  given  thee  ? "  The  rulers  of  the 
nations,  and  they  who  made  laws  for  nations,  and 
they  who  chose  them  to  be  their  lawgivers ;  men  in 
authority,  bishops  and  pastors,  officers  in  command ; 
men  of  large  possessions,  employers  of  labour ;  heads 
of  colleges  and  masters  of  schools ; — they  must  all 
answer  it.  Not  only  they  who  rule  in  palaces,  and 
legislate  in  parliaments,  and  lead  armies  and  fleets, 
and  have  great  estates  and  pay  away  thousands  in 
weekly  wages ;  but  every  father  and  mother,  however 
lowly  their  occupation,  must  reply  to  this  inquiry. 

Nay,  the  question  will  be  addressed  to  us  all.  By 
our  example,  good  or  bad ;  by  the  neglect  or  discharge 
of  our  duty,  by  our  apathy  or  sympathy,  we  help  or 
hinder  others.    "  No  man  liveth  to  himself." 

Where  is  thy  flock  ?  Shepherds,  every  one  of  us, 
if  we  be  true  disciples  of  Him  who  gave  His  life  for 


52  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

the  sheep ;  shepherds,  bringing  Him  our  best,  like  that 
first  keeper  of  sheep,  righteous  Abel,  and  not  our  worst 
like  him  who  first  asked, "  Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?" 
and  then  did  foul  murder  upon  him  ;  shepherds,  faith- 
ful, gentle,  and  brave,  working  patiently  like  Jacob 
amid  Laban's  flock,  when  in  the  day  the  drought 
consumed  him,  and  by  night  the  frost ;  as  Moses,  who 
kept  the  flock  of  Jethro  his  father-in-law,  and  chose 
rather  to  suffer  affliction  with  the  people  of  God  than 
to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season;  brave  as 
David  when  he  slew  the  lion  and  the  bear ;  shepherds, 
watching  on  duty,  hearing  now  and  then  the  angels 
in  the  darkness,  seeing  now  and  then  a  gleam  of 
glory,  as  it  was  on  the  pasture-land  of  Judsea  that 
night  when  our  Lord  was  born ;  shepherds,  all  of  us, 
to  whom  the  Bishop  of  our  souls  has  said,  as  to  St. 
Peter, ''  Lovest  thou  Me  ?  .  .  .  Feed  My  lambs." 

If  we  evade  the  duty,  we  have  lost  the  love ;  we 
are  mere  hirelings,  fleeing  from  our  work  whenever 
it  is  hard  or  dangerous  ;  or  worse,  robbers  and  wolves, 
stealing,  scattering,  tearing,  slaying  the  flock — the 
lambs,  it  may  be — though  He  has  warned,  "Whoso 
shall  offend  one  of  these  little  ones  that  believe  in  Me, 
it  were  better  for  him  that  a  millstone  were  hanged 
about  his  neck  and  that  he  were  drowned  in  the 
depths  of  the  sea." 

And  yet  how  many  children  in  Christian  England 
have  never  been  brought  to  Christ,  that  He  might 
take  them  in  His  arms  to  His  fold,  and  sign  them 
with  His  brand,  and  glorify  them  by  His  Name  I   And 


TRUE  EDUCATION,  53 

how  many  of  those  who  have  been  baptized  are  never 
taught  the  privileges  or  the  obligations  of  baptism  ! 
How  many  are  taught,  not  by  grace,  but  by  human 
example  and  precept,  so  soon  as  they  are  able  to 
learn,  not  what  a  solemn  promise  and  profession  they 
have  made  at  the  font,  but  to  set  their  affections  upon 
the  things  of  the  earth ;  to  regard  money  as  the  most 
precious  of  all  possessions ;  to  think  more  of  outward 
adorning,  "of  plaiting  the  hair,  and  of  wearing  of  gold, 
and  of  putting  on  of  apparel,"  than  of  "  the  ornament 
of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit,  which  is  in  the  sight  of 
God  of  great  price,"  and  of  the  shame  which  is  a 
glory  and  a  grace.  They  are  permitted  to  mistake 
impudence  for  wit,  and  licence  for  liberty. 

There  is  a  horrible  story  told  on  the  w^estern  coasts 
how   one   of  those   vile   murderers,  who   are    called 
wreckers,  went  out  on  a  dark,  tempestuous  night  and 
held  a  bright   lantern-flame  on  the  top   of  a  great 
rock  by  the  sea,  and  how  the  helmsman  of  a  ship  in 
distress,  mistakingit  for  the  friendly  lighthouse,  steered 
accordingly  toward  the  shore,  and  all  perished ;    and 
when  the  morning  came,  and  the  vessel  lay  a  shattered 
wreck  upon  the  beach,  and   this  wretched   slave   of 
Satan  went  down  to  collect  his  spoil,  the  first  thing 
he  saw  was  a  drowned  man  who  seemed  to  look  at 
him  with  sightless  eyes,  and  it  was  his  own  and  only 
son.     And   may  it  not  be   that,  on  the   everlasting 
shore,  the  children  of  this  generation  will  rise  up  in 
the  judgment  with  their  parents  and  will  condemn 
them:   "You  placed   false  lights  before   us,  instead 


'54  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

of  that  light  which  lighteth  to  salvation,  and  you 
made  shipwreck  of  our  souls  "  ? 

We  shudder  to  read  of  that  horrible  massacre  of 
the  Innocents,  when  brutish  Herod,  fearing  lest  he 
should  lose  his  power,  slew  all  the  little  ones  that 
were  in  Bethlehem  and  on  the  coasts  thereof,  two 
years  old  and  under. 

*'  The  air  was  full  of  farewells  to  the  dying, 
And  mournings  for  the  dead  ; 
The  lieart  of  Rachel  for  her  children  crying, 
Would  not  be  comforted." 

But  may  it  not  be  possible — it  is  a  very  awful 
thought — for  Christians  so  called  to  take  part  in 
a  yet  more  fearful  destruction,  the  destruction  of 
souls,  by  crucifying  afresh  the  Christ  within  them  ? 

Now,  what  is  generally  meant  by  a  good  education  ? 
Too  often  it  means  a  school  in  which  boys  and  girls 
will  meet  with  those  who  are  in  a  higher  grade  than 
their  own.  Too  often  when  parents  say,  *'  We  want 
to  get  our  children  into  good  society,"  they  are 
thinking  only  of  worldly  things ;  they  forget  that 
the  only  really  good  society  is  the  society  of  good 
men.  A  good  education  ?  No  education  which 
separates  itself  from  religion  can  ever  make  men 
good:  learned,  accomplished,  agreeable,  clever,  but 
not  good.  If  you  only  cultivate  mind  and  manners, 
you  are  plating  base  metal,  you  are  veneering  worm- 
eaten  wood,  because  you  do  not  reach  the  source  of 
good  and  evil,  you  do  not  touch  the  heart.  More 
than  this,  there  is  abundant  evidence,  in  the  reports 
that  come  to  us  from  the  chaplains  of  our  gaols  and 


TRUE  EDUCATION,  55 

from  the  criminal  courts,  that  a  mere  brain  education 
is  "  to  put  sharp  weapons  in  a  madman's  hands," 
to  make  the  forger  and  the  dishonest  clerk  more 
formidable  than  the  pickpocket  or  the  burglar. 

Is  not  lust  more  powerful  to  seduce,  when  it  speaks 
with  music  in  its  voice,  but  evil  in  its  heart, 
sentiments'  softer  than  oil,  yet  be  they  very  swords  ? 
Is  malice  less  malignant  when  it  shoots  its  arrows, 
even  bitter  words  sharpened  by  all  the  artifices  of  a 
cruel,  sarcastic  wit  ?  The  Duke  of  Wellington  years 
ago  forewarned  those  who  would  expel  a  definite 
religious  teaching,  that  an  education  without  Chris- 
tianity would  make  a  nation  of  clever  devils.  And 
there  is  no  more  painful  sight  to  the  Christian,  when 
he  walks  abroad,  than  to  notice  many  proofs  around 
him  of  the  neglect  of  true  education  ;  when  he  hears 
so  much  that  is  painful  to  hear,  sees  poverty  where 
there  might  have  been  plenty,  and  discord  where 
there  should  be  peace  ;  disease  and  suffering,  some- 
times in  the  young  as  the  inherited  penalties  of  sin, 
sometimes  in  the  middle-aged  who  have  given  them- 
selves over  to  lasciviousness,  to  work  all  uncleanness 
with  greediness,  together  with  those  natural  infirmi- 
ties, the  dimness  of  sight,  the  dulness  of  hearing,  the 
unsteady  step,  the  loss  of  memory,  which  must  happen 
when  the  years  come,  when  we  shall  say,  "  So  far  as 
this  world's  joys  can  please,  I  have  no  pleasure  in 
them." 

He  sees    decay  everywhere,   death   so  near,  and 
God  preaching  to  all,  "  Set  thine  house  in  order,  for 


56  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

thou  shalt  die,"  and  yet  meets  men  and  women  call- 
ing themselves  Christians,  living  in  sin,  living  for 
self,  prayerless,  thankless,  Christless,  as  though  they 
had  no  souls  to  save.  He  hears  the  fierce  words 
of  the  passionate,  the  foul  words  of  the  vicious,  the 
bitter  words  of  the  scandalous,  the  false  words  of 
the  deceitful,  the  maudlin  nonsense  of  the  sot ;  ay, 
and  out  in  pleasant  fields,  where  our  merciful  Father 
makes  His  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  on  the  good, 
and  sends  His  rain  on  the  just  and  the  unjust,  he 
hears  the  labourer  cursing  and  swearing  at  those 
poor  beasts  of  burden  which  God  has  made  to  share 
and  to  lighten  his  toil;  and  at  the  very  time  when 
the  valleys  stand  so  thick  with  corn  that  they  seem  to 
laugh  and  sing,  profaning  the  Name  of  the  Creator ! 
What  is  the  cause  of  it  all  ?  The  want  of  a  true 
education  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord. 

And  it  is  not  only  that  which  the  Christian  sees 
and  hears  which  distresses  him,  but  that  which  he 
knows  must  surely  follow,  which  stirs  his  soul  with 
pity. 

We  talk  commonly  and  carelessly  about  a  spoilt 
child,  not  realizing  the  full  meaning  of  our  words.  It 
is  not  only  that  the  boy  or  the  girl  is  spoilt,  and  that 
which  should  have  been  a  happiness  becomes  a 
nuisance,  but  God's  masterpiece  is  debased  and  His 
gracious  purpose  marred,  a  soul  for  which  Christ  has 
died  is  robbed  of  its  heritage.  We  know  too  surely 
the  results  of  this  terrible  neglect,  for  we  see  them 
again  and  again.     These  children  will  grow  up  into 


TRUE  EDUCATION,  57 

bad  men  and  women,  bad  neighbours,  subjects,  ser- 
vants, citizens;  false  friends,  dishonest, idle, malicious, 
reprobate;  the  drones  of  the  hive,  the  canker  in  the 
fruit,  the  flaw  in  the  metal,  the  poison  and  pest  of 
society. 

But  it  may  perhaps  be  said  that  the  time  for  com- 
plaint such  as  this  is  over ;  that  a  sure  remedy  has 
been  found  for  the  disease ;  that  the  nation,  disgusted 
at  last  beyond  endurance  by  the  misery  and  the  dis- 
grace which  untaught  ignorance  always  brings  upon 
itself  and  its  surroundings,  has  resolved  to  educate ; 
and  that  not  only  are  schools  provided  for  children 
throughout  the  land,  but  that  the  law  compels 
attendance. 

And  this  is  especially  a  subject  for  great  thankful- 
ness— I  mean  the  privilege  of  that  which  is  called 
elementary  or  secular  education  for  those  who  other- 
wise would  not  or  could  not  have  it.  Untaught  chil- 
dren, for  example,  are  as  a  rule  but  clumsy  workers, 
and  the  body  is  rarely  quick  in  its  energies  where  the 
mind,  the  motive  power,  is  dull.  And  the  power  of 
reading  and  writing,  and  of  thinking  about  that  which 
is  read  and  written,  will  remove  that  stupid,  stolid 
ignorance  which  disgraces  a  civilized  land,  and  will 
raise  those  who  now  work  like  mere  machines,  and 
eat  and  drink  and  sleep"  like  mere  animals,  to  the 
capabilities  of  a  higher  intelligence.  Men  will  have  a 
greater  power  to  succeed  in  business  and  the  various 
avocations  of  life.  Without  such  an  education,  how- 
ever skilful  and  industrious  a  man  may  be,  and  trust- 


58  ADDRESSES    TO    WORKING  MEN. 

worthy  and  persevering,  when  he  reaches  a  certain 
point  he  must  stop.  How  often  do  we  hear  it  said, 
"  If  my  parents  had  only  sent  me  to  school,  I  should 
not  have  been  what  I  am,  nor  where  I  am,  now  "  !  If 
that  man  had  only  been  taught  to  read  and  write,  he 
would  have  been  a  master  now  instead  of  a  servant, 
paying  instead  of  receiving  wages.  Who  has  not 
heard  an  employer  say,  "  There  is  one  whom  it  would 
be  for  my  own  advantage,  even  more  than  for  his,  to 
place  in  a  most  important  and  profitable  position,  but 
he  knows  nothing  of  accounts  and  book-keeping,  and 
he  is  therefore  incapable  "  ?  And  the  successes  of  self- 
made  men,  as  they  are  called,  show  how  much  the 
school  has  done,  however  simple  has  been  the  instruc- 
tion, for  those  who,  though  they  had  great  natural 
ability,  without  it  might  have  been  worsted  and 
failed. 

Yes,  we  are  all  agreed  that  education  pays,  and 
that  the  father  is  wise  in  his  generation  who  says, 
"  Of  silver  and  gold  I  have  but  little,  but  one  precious 
gift  I  can  and  will  bestow  upon  my  children,  and 
that  is  a  good  education.  So  far  as  I  can,  I  will  place 
the  power  of  being  wealthy  or  wise  within  their 
reach.  They  shall  have  the  implements,  whether 
they  will  use  them  or  not.  It  is  a  hard  fight,  the 
struggle  for  success  in  life,  and  no  child  of  mine  shall 
go  into  the  battle  without  the  weapons  of  warfare  in 
his  hands.  No  child  of  mine  shall  be  compelled  to 
mate  with  fools,  to  be  silent,  or  speak  only  to  expose 
his  ignorance  in  the  presence  of  others,  because  he  has 


TRUE  EDUCATION,  59 

not  scholarship  enough  to  acquire  information  or  to 
express  his  thoughts."  And  because  there  are  so 
many  who  have  not  this  wise  affection,  who  from 
ignorance  or  selfishness  make  no  effort  that  their 
children  may  be  taught,  it  is  surely  prudent,  it  is 
surely  kind,  that  the  Parliament  should  say  to  them, 
"  If  you  refuse  to  do  your  duty,  that  which  is  of  such 
importance  for  those  who  are  nearest  and  should  be 
dearest  to  you,  the  law  shall  enforce  that  which 
reason  and  affection  should  have  accepted  cheerfully. 

But  does  the  education  of  the  mind,  of  the  reason, 
satisfy  when  we  have  obtained  it?  Will  a  mere 
secular  education  make  men  and  women  really  better, 
homes  happier,  life  brighter,  braver,  purer  than  before  ? 
Or  will  selfishness  devote  this  new  power  in  cleverer, 
subtler,  operations  unto  self?  Can  any  mere  mental 
instructions  make  men  gentle  and  generous,  just  and 
truthful,  upright  and  honourable,  above  receiving  a 
bribe  or  doing  a  mean  action  when  there  is  no  risk  of 
discovery  ?  Will  it  make  them  contented  with  their 
place  and  condition,  satisfied  with  their  lot  in  this 
world,  confident  that  they  are  fulfilling  all  the  pur- 
poses for  which  they  were  sent  into  it,  and  exercising 
all  the  powers  which  they  possess  ?  As  they  grow 
older,  and  the  long  shadows  and  the  chill  eventide 
announce  the  coming  of  the  night,  will  this  mere 
secular  education  have  taught  anything  which  can 
sustain  and  cheer  ?  Will  it  make  them  resigned  to 
die,  ready  to  part  with  those  things  for  which  they 
have  worked  so  hard  ? 


60  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

Reason  and  revelation  answer,  No.  Reason — the 
experience  of  facts — tells  us  that  a  mere  secular 
education  has  no  influence  in  restraininor  vice. 
"  Little  hearts  and  large  brains  "  are  too  often  pro- 
duced by  it.  Crime  does  not  diminish  as  reading 
and  writing  increase,  but,  on  the  contrary,  new 
materials  have  been  supplied  for  fraud. 

What  has  been  the  result  of  that  elementary  educa- 
tion on  which  we  spend  some  seven  or  eight  millions 
annually  ?  Has  it  been  followed  by  an  increase  or 
decrease  of  crime  ?  Take  the  reports  from  two  of 
our  largest  cities  recently  made  *  by  those  most 
competent  to  make  them.  The  Chief  Constable  of 
Manchester  states  that  "never  in  Manchester  was 
there  a  time  when  crimes  were  so  frequently  com- 
mitted by  persons  of  good  education  as  now.  While 
ordinary  thieves  stole  last  year  in  Manchester 
property  to  the  value  of  £6308,  the  amount  of  which 
firms  and  persons  in  trade  were  defrauded  by  people 
of  good  education,  by  means  of  forgeries  and  like 
devices,  was  upwards  of  £90,000.  Hardly  a  day 
passes  that  letters  are  not  received  complaining  of 
'long  firm'  frauds,  rampant  in  all  parts  of  the 
country,  and  all  of  which  require  the  ingenuity  and 
dexterity  which  are  alone  given  by  good  education." 

With  regard  to  the  more  serious  offences  against 

property,  such  as   burglary  and  housebreaking,  the 

report  from  Liverpool  states  the  numbers    to  be — 

"in  1859,  seventy-nine;  in  1869,  one  hundred  and 

*  This  address  was  given  in  1892. 


TRUE  EDUCATION.  6l 

forty-four;  in  1879,  one  hundred  and  thirfcy-six;  in 
1889,  one  hundred  and  ninety-seven ;  in  1890,  two 
hundred  and  thirty-two, — an  increase  out  of  all 
proportion  with  the  growth  of  the  population  of 
Liverpool." 

I  do  not  make  these  quotations,  my  brothers,  to 
depreciate  the  inestimable  advantages  of  elementary 
education,  but  to  point  out  the  abuse  of  it,  and  the 
impotence  of  mere  mental  instruction  to  purify  the 
heart,  and  to  ennoble  the  man  by  overcoming  evil  with 
good. 

Revelation,  Christianity,  tell  us  why — because  mere 
human  learning  is  of  the  earth,  earthy,  and  by  itself 
it  cannot  rise  heavenward;  because  it  is  a  remedy 
which  does  not  reach  the  seat  of  the  disease ;  because 
it  does  not  speak  to  the  immortal  soul ;  because  the 
wisdom  of  this  world  is  foolishness  with  God;  be- 
cause it  is  first  an  education  of  disappointment,  and 
then  an  education  of  despair;  it  is  a  system  which 
by  itself  can  never  make  us  temperate  in  abundance, 
hopeful  in  sorrow,  the  masters  and  not  the  slaves  of 
our  passions — can  never  make  us  free,  independent 
men.  And  when  we  need  help  and  hope  the  most, 
it  is  a  system  which  brings  us  neither;  it  comes 
to  us  after  a  few  short  years,  and  says,  "  I  can  do  no 
more  for  you,  and  what  I  have  done  dies  with  you." 
Your  powers  of  learning,  gaining,  pleasing,  are  ex- 
hausted, and  soon  life  itself  will  fade. 

My  brothers,  we  want  something  happier  and 
truer  than  this,  when  we  are  looking  on  the  white 


62  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

faces  of  our  dead,  or  are  ourselves  face  to  face  with 
death.  We  want  something  that  no  mere  secular 
education,  no  intellectual  scientific  knowledge,  can 
give ;  we  want  the  sweet  voice  which  whispers  in  the 
ear,  "Not  dead,  but  sleepeth;  not  lost,  but  gone 
before."  And  so  it  is  revelation  which  by  God's 
mercy  shows  us  the  more  excellent  way ;  suggests  the 
motive  and  bestows  the  power  for  a  nobler,  truer  life 
than  this ;  tells  a  man  that  he  has  a  soul  to  save,  and 
inspires  him  with  the  desire  of  salvation.  We  want 
an  education  for  heaven. 

Listen !  "  The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of 
wisdom."  You  can  never  be  honest  on  a  sure  prin- 
ciple, you  can  never  love  honesty,  you  can  never 
adhere  to  it  because  it  is,  as  the  world  says,  the  best 
policy,  because  it  prospers  most  in  the  long  run — as  a 
rule  you  cannever  be  really  honest  until  you  hear  God 
speaking  to  you,  "  Thou  shalt  not  steal;"  "Provide 
things  honest  in  the  sight  of  men  ;  "  *' A  false  way  is  an 
abomination  to  the  Lord ; "  "Nor  thieves,  nor  covetous 
men,  nor  extortioners,  shall  inherit  the  kingdom  of 
God."  The  police  may  watch  and  the  law  may 
punish,  the  inspectors  of  weights  and  measures  may 
examine,  compare,  condemn,  or  stamp ;  but  if  there  is 
no  voice  in  the  conscience  of  the  seller  which  says, 
'•  Thou  seest  me,"  "  The  eyes  of  the  Lord  are  in  every 
place,  beholding  the  evil  and  the  good,"  there  is  no 
sure  security  against  deceit  and  fraud.  "  The  fear  of 
the  Lord  is  the  beginning,"  the  alphabet,  "  of  wisdom," 
and  withal  love  of  the  Lord  carries  on  the  education ; 


TRUE  EDUCATION,  63 

and  as  the  fear  of  hell  makes  us  just,  the  hope  of 
heaven  will  make  us  generous.  If  from  fear  we 
cease  to  do  evil,  from  love  we  learn  to  do  well,  until 
our  terror  of  the  Judge  is  lost  in  the  adoration  of  the 
Saviour,  and  perfect  love  casteth  out  fear. 

We  want  an  education,  we  want  a  motive,  and  we 
want  a  power  which  shall  make  husbands  and  wives 
faithful,  and  young  men  and  women  chaste,  and  these 
we  shall  never  find  in  the  mere  conviction  that  lust  is 
in  itself  ugly  and  repulsive,  that  it  is  sure  to  encounter 
great  oppositions  which  may  injure  our  position  in 
society  and  interfere  with  our  worldly  success ;  but 
which  we  shall  find  when  a  voice  from  heaven  speaks 
to  us,  "  Marriage  is  honourable  to  all,  and  the  bed 
undefiled ;  but  whoremongers  and  adulterers  God  will 
judge."  And  men  again  will  love  and  plead  for 
purity  when  He  pleads  with  them,  "  Know  ye  not, 
ye  Christians,  that  your  bodies  are  the  members  of 
Christ  ?  Shall  you  then  take  the  members  of  Christ 
and  make  them  the  members  of  a  harlot  ?  God 
forbid." 

Again,  we  want  an  education  which  will  teach  us 
to  be  temperate  in  all  things,  not  only  because 
gluttony  and  drunkenness  are  so  offensive  to  others, 
and  so  degrading  and  injurious  to  self;  not  only 
because  we  have  pledged  and  bound  ourselves  by 
human  rules  to  abstain,  but  because  God  bids  us 
use  this  world  and  not  abuse  it,  appealing  to  our 
fear  when  He  warns  us  that  no  drunkard  shall 
inherit  the  kingdom,  and  encouraging  our  love  when 


64  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

He  tells  us  that  he  who  striveth  for  the  mastery  is 
temperate  in  all  things,  and  shall  have  an  incorrupt- 
ible crown.  We  require,  in  short,  as  immortal  souls, 
for  ourselves  and  for  our  children  an  education  which 
sets  before  us  heavenly  ambitions  and  inspires  us 
with  eternal  hopes,  which  will  open  our  eyes  and 
purify  our  sight  to  look  far  beyond  self  to  the  city 
whose  Maker  is  God ;  beyond  the  sea  of  life,  now  so 
smooth  and  glittering  in  the  sunshine  that  we  forget 
we  have  a  voyage  to  make,  and  now  so  terrible  with 
its  mountain  waves  that  it  seems  as  though  we 
should  never  make  it.  We  want  a  faith  which  will 
sarely  bring  us  to  the  haven  where  we  would  be;  which 
works  on  in  cloudless  calm,  and  which  no  tempest 
can  dismay.  We  want  something  far  higher,  more 
enduring,  than  that  mere  worldly  education  which 
teaches  us  little  more  than  this  :  "  When  thou  doesb 
good  unto  thyself,  men  will  speak  well  of  thee."  We 
want  an  influence,  a  power  in  our  hearts,  raising  us 
upward,  urging  us  onward  "to  do  Thy  will,  O  God." 

Think  of  this,  you  working  men — those  especially 
w^ho  are  fathers.  You  have  a  great  power  in  this 
matter,  through  those  whom  you  send  to  Parliament ; 
and  I  ask  you,  not  only  as  Christians,  but  as  citizens 
and  patriots,  What  sort  of  men,  what  kind  of  principles, 
are  to  govern  England  ?  Will  you  have  us  believe  that 
righteousness  alone  exalte th  a  nation,  or  shall  we  run 
the  risk  of  repeating  in  London  that  which  was  seen 
in  Paris,  when  they  set  a  harlot  on  the  high  altar 
of  the  cathedral  to  represent  the  reign  of  Reason, 


TRUE  EDUCATION,  65 

shot  down  an  archbishop  in  the  street,  and  threw 
vitriol  in  the  faces  of  those  who  were  less  brutish,  or 
rather  devilish,  .than  themselves  ? 

But  your  parental  is  far  greater  than  your  political 
power — to  see  your  children  virtuously  brought  up, 
not  only  in  school,  but  at  home.  Yes,  you  yourself, 
however  poor  a  scholar,  can  give  them  the  best  of 
all  teaching,  a  good  example — the  beautiful,  persuasive 
example  of  an  upright  and  industrious  life. 

What  a  responsibility,  and  what  a  power  every 
one  of  us  has  to  bring  some  little  child  to  Jesus ! 

Michael  Angelo,  walking  in  the  streets  of  Eome 
with  a  friend,  suddenly  stopped  to  examine  a  heap 
of  marble  blocks.  Then  he  went  on  his  knees  and 
began  to  clean  one  piece.  His  friend  said,  "  What 
are  you  doing  ? "  and  the  great  sculptor  answered, 
"  There's  an  angel  in  that  marble  ! "  He  saw  the 
beauty  of  the  stone,  he  had  it  conveyed  to  his  studio, 
and  after  many  a  hard  day's  work  out  came  the 
angel.  Well,  in  every  child  you  meet,  however  poor 
and  mean,  there  is  an  angel.  If  it  is  a  baptized 
child,  it  has  an  angel  of  its  own  always  guarding 
it  and  pleading  for  it  before  the  Father's  throne. 
But  you  may  help  to  make  the  angel  from  the  child, 
as  Michael  Angelo  did  from  the  block.  Think  about 
it.  Think  that  it  is  in  your  power  to  help  that 
little  child  to  be  a  redeemed  saint  of  glory ;  it  may 
be  when  you  die  to  welcome  you  at  the  gates  of 
Paradise ;  to  say,  "  When  I  seemed  to  have  no  hope 
and  no  friends,  you  came  and  taught  me  the  excellent 

F 


66  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN, 

way  which  has  brought  me  into  this  glorious  home  I " 
Love  the  children ;  reverence  the  children.  It  is  told 
of  a  great  schoolmaster,  John  Trebonius,  who  taught 
Martin  Luther,  that  he  never  appeared  before  his  lads 
without  uncovering  his  head.  He  said,  "I  do  not 
know  what  great  man  I  may  be  teaching."  But  we 
do  know,  when  we  teach  children  to  love  God  and 
to  love  purity  and  innocence,  that  we  are  teaching 
members  of  Christ,  heirs  of  heaven,  inheritors  of 
eternal  glory,  and  it  is  the  only  teaching  that  can 
keep  children  pure,  because  it  will  make  them  feel 
and  know  that  they  are  temples  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
and  that  they  dare  not  defile  that  temple. 

And  now,  my  brothers,  take  to  your  heart  and  to 
your  home  to-day  this  gracious  promise  of  your 
Saviour,  "Whoso  shall  receive  one  such  little  child 
in  My  Name,  receiveth  Me."  Claim  it  and  win  it,  by 
bringing  up  those  whom  He  loved  the  best  in  the 
nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord,  so  that  when 
the  Judge  shall  ask,  "  Where  is  thy  flock  that  was 
given  thee,  thy  beautiful  flock  ? "  you  may  look  up 
and  answer,  "  Behold,  I  and  the  children  whom  God 
hath  given  me." 


V. 
CONVERSION. 

"Wheu  thou  art  converted,  strengthen  thy  brethren." — St.  Luke 
xxii.  32. 

Let  me  speak  to  you,  my  brothers,  on  a  subject  which, 
in  these  days,  has  been  by  many  sadly  misunderstood 
— I  mean  Conversion.  Let  us  hear  what  the  Holy 
Scripture  doth  say  concerning  it. 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  complete  conversion  to 
Christianity  without  Baptism  before  or  after.  Before 
the  coming  of  the  Holy  Ghost  we  read,  "  In  those  days 
came  John  the  Baptist,  preaching  in  the  wilderness 
of  Judsea,  and  saying,  Repent  ye :  for  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  at  hand.  .  .  .  Then  went  after  him  Jerusalem, 
and  all  Judaea,  and  all  the  regions  round  about  Jordan, 
and  were  baptized  of  him  in  Jordan,  confessing  their 
sins.  .  .  .  Then  cometh  Jesus  from  Galilee  to  be  bap- 
tized of  him."    John  baptized  with  water. 

You  will  remember  the  words  to  Nicodemus : 
"Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  Except  a  man  be 
born  of  water  and  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  God."  And  again  He  said,  "  He  that 
believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved." 

After  the  Day  of  Pentecost   St.  Peter  preached, 


6S  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

"Kepent,  and  be  baptized" — with  the  Baptism  of 
water  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  he  afterwards  wrote, 
"  Baptism  saves  iis." 

The  same  proofs  of  sincerity  were  to  follow  this 
initiation,  this  entrance  into  the  Church  of  Christ. 
St.  John  preached,  "Bring  forth  fruits  meet  for 
repentance."  Fear  came  upon  St.  Peter's  converts, 
and  they  steadfastly  continued  in  the  Apostles' 
doctrine  and  fellowship,  and  in  breaking  of  bread, 
and  in  prayers.  Our  Lord  said,  "  Let  your  light  so 
shine  before  men,  that  they  may  see  your  good 
works ; "  "  If  ye  love  Me,  keep  My  commandments." 

Sorrow  for  sin,  a  new  heart  and  a  new  life — such 
has  been  God's  blessed  scheme  of  salvation  ever  since 
the  Fall.  There  is  no  other  remedy  nor  cure  but 
this — the  sorrow  which  hates  sin  because  God  hates 
it,  finding  an  escape  from  it  by  the  way  which  He 
has  opened  unto  us  through  the  Incarnation,  the 
Sacrifice,  and  Presence  of  His  Son,  and  so  attaining 
pardon,  restoration,  sanctification,  peace,  hope,  rest  in 
paradise,  glory  in  heaven. 

The  text  of  the  preaching  of  the  Old  Testament  and 
of  the  New  may  be  given  in  one  word — "  Kepent." 
"God  commandeth  all  men  everywhere  to  repent." 
Throughout  the  whole  of  the  older  dispensation,  in 
the  law  and  the  prophets,  we  hear  the  voice  of  a 
loving  Father  calling  upon  His  children  to  repent; 
and  as  we  open  the  New  Testament  we  come  upon 
a  most  solemn  and  striking  scene,  when,  in  the 
country  about   Jordan,  in  the   Holy  Eastern  Land, 


CONVERSION,  6g 

a  great  crowd  met  together,  a  mixed  multitude — 
Komans  and  Jews,  rulers  and  subjects,  state  officials 
and  rough  fishermen,  great  scholars  and  ignorant 
unlearned  men,  rich  and  poor,  old  and  young — 
listening  with  a  strained,  painful,  yearning  interest, 
to  hear  the  poor  hermit,  a  stranger  from  the  wilder- 
ness, wearing  raiment  of  camel's  hair  and  a  leathern 
girdle  about  his  loins,  John  the  Baptist,  preach 
repentance.  There  were  representatives  of  the  two 
greatest  nations  upon  earth — of  God's  chosen  people, 
and  of  that  mighty  empire  which  ruled  the  civilized 
world.  There  were  men  of  education,  of  authority, 
and  wealth.  But  they  stood  around  the  preacher, 
downcast,  in  a  great  humility  ;  their  cleverness,  power, 
money,  forgotten,  or  remembered  but  to  be  despised ; 
silent,  sorrows-stricken,  consenting  to  all  he  said, 
though  his  words  were  severe  and  stern,  though  he 
denounced  and  threatened  them.  They  listened  while 
one  of  the  noblest  of  heaven's  heroes,  a  man  trained 
by  years  of  discipline,  prayer,  and  meditation  to  do 
a  great  work  for  God,  stood  there,  dauntless  and 
defiant  in  the  sacred  cause  of  truth,  ready  to  die, 
doomed  to  die,  for  truth — stood  there  and  preached 
repentance  as  the  only  salvation  from  the  wrath  to 
come  through.  Jesus.  And  when  he  ceased,  there 
came  forth  from  the  heart  of  that  multitude,  as  from 
the  heart  of  one  man,  no  words  of  doubt,  no  excuses 
for  delay,  but  only  this  question,  as  of  life  and  death, 
"  What  shall  we  do  ? "  And  the  answer  was,  "  Repent, 
and  be  Baptized." 


70  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

Ever  since  the  first  Whitsun-day  this  holy  Baptism 
has  been  regarded  by  the  Church  as  necessary  to 
salvation,  and  her  children  have  been  taught  to  say, 
in  answer  to  the  question,  "  What  is  required  of 
persons  to  be  baptized  ?  "  "  Repentance,  whereby  we 
forsake  sin."  Human  nature  responds  to  the  appeal ; 
the  instinct  of  the  unregenerate,  the  Gentiles  who 
have  not  the  law,  have  recognized  with  shame  and 
sorrow  the  wickedness  of  sin.  Plato  said,  "  Thougli 
I  knew  that  my  sin  would  not  be  discovered,  or  was 
sure  that  it  would  be  pardoned,  I  would  not  do  it ; 
there  is  something  so  repugnant  in  the  ugliness  of 
sin."  How  much  more  painfully  the  baptized  must 
feel  that  sin  degrades,  darkens,  weakens !  They  can- 
not fail  to  know  that  wanton  lust,  adultery,  and  forni- 
cation, with  cruelty,  lying,  cheating,  gluttony,  and 
drunkenness,  are  contemptible,  foul,  and  base,  things 
to  be  ashamed  of  as  unworthy  of  their  manhood,  and 
deadly  to  their  spiritual  life.  Loud  above  all  other 
voices  the  warning  comes  to  us  from  time  to  time, 
"  Except  ye  repent,  ye  shall  perish."  "  Come  unto 
Me,  all  ye  that  travail  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I 
will  give  you  rest :  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  you  out." 
God  pleads  with  every  soul  of  man.  He  sends  Moses 
to  Pharaoh,  Samuel  to  Saul,  Nathan  to  David,  Elijah 
to  Ahab,  Jonah  to  Nineveh,  the  Baptist  to  Herod, 
St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  to  the  Gentiles ;  and  yet,  alas  ! 
it  is  now  as  in  the  Lord's  time  with  us. 

He  could  do  all  things  except  bring  men  to   re- 
pentance.    All  nature  obeyed  His  voice ;  the  winds 


CONVERSION.  71 

ceased,  the  great  billows  fell,  the  evil  spirits  fled  at 
His  command ;  but  the  heart  of  man  was  hard,  im- 
penitent ;  and  this  was  His  exceeding  bitter  cry,  "  Ye 
will  not  come  to  Me  that  ye  might  have  life."  "  0 
Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  thou  that  killest  the  prophets 
and  stones t  them  that  are  sent  unto  thee,  how 
often  would  I  have  gathered  thy  children  together, 
even  as  a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under  her 
wings,  and  ye  would  not !  " 

But  now,  in  these  days,  there  is  much  peril  lest 
we  should  either  forget  this  great  doctrine  of  a  re- 
pentance, or  should  substitute  something  else  in  its 
place.  If  the  tempter  cannot  induce  us  to  forsake 
religion  altogether,  he  will  endeavour  to  deceive  us 
by  substituting  the  false  for  the  true.  There  is  not 
a  jewel  in  the  crown  of  Jesus  which  he  does  not 
imitate  with  tinsel  and  paint.  There  is  not  a  coin 
from  the  royal  mint  but  he  will  forge  it  with  metal 
that  is  base.  And  so  now,  by  substituting  conversion 
for  repentance,  many  souls  are  beguiled  from  the 
truth.  There  is  no  real  difference  in  the  meaning  of 
the  words  "  conversion  '*  and  "  repentance,"  though 
the  former  is  found  but  once  in  the  Bible,  and  the 
latter  in  every  part  of  it.  But  this  substitution  has 
bsen  accompanied  by  false  doctrine,  and  the  term  has 
been  employed  and  abused  to  the  injury  and  perver- 
sion of  the  truth.  It  has  been  used  to  indicate  a 
sudden  and  complete  transformation  of  a  sinner  into 
a  saint,  accompanied  by  a  sense  of  the  assurance  of 
salvation,  free  and  final,  and  with  no  peril  of  relapse, 


72  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

Now,  we  can  imagine  those  who  have  never  been 
baptized,  or  who  have  b3en  taught  to  disbelieve  in 
Baptism,  who  have  been  told  from  childhood  there  was 
no  other  way  in  which  they  could  be  saved,  except 
by  this  sudden,  sensible  conversion,  who  have  regarded 
themselves  as  out  of  the  possibility  of  salvation  until 
they  felt  they  were  saved,  and  that  then  there  was 
no  further  fear;  we  can  understand  their  anxiety 
and  readiness  to  be  persuaded,  amid  the  clamorous 
supplications,  the  hysterical  sobs,  the  enthusiasm  and 
excitement  of  their  friends,  that  the  moment  of  their 
conversion  has  come.  But  we  fail  to  comprehend 
how  persons  who  belong  to  the  Church,  or  persons 
who  read  the  Scriptures  for  themselves,  can  be  so 
deceived  and  misled.  And  yet  there  are  men  and 
women,  taught  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints, 
surrounded  by  the  means  of  grace,  who  forsake  their 
first  love  and  forget  the  guide  of  their  youth,  and 
will  listen  to  these  plausible  inventions.  They  have 
wandered  far  away  from  innocence  and  God,  and  are 
beginning  to  feel  themselves  exiles  and  outcasts ;  but 
they  have  longings  for  home.  But  what  a  distance 
it  seems  over  which  they  must  retrace  their  steps  ! 
So  this  idea  of  a  sudden  transformation,  without 
much  effort  on  their  part,  attracts  and  pleases  them. 
And  I  need  not  tell  you  how  easy  the  operation  is  of 
accommodating  our  creed  to  our  wish. 

And  though  the  argument  has  been  a  thousand 
times  rent  into  fragments  and  scattered  to  the  winds, 
this  still  remains  a  favourite  plea :  Was  not  Saul  of 


CONVERSION.  73 

Tarsus  raging  like  a  wild  beasfc  against  Jesus  and  the 
truth  ?  Was  he  not  suddenly,  miraculously  con- 
verted ?  Was  not  he  assured  of  his  salvation  ?  It 
would  weary  one  to  answer,  were  it  not  that  some 
would  take  silence  as  assent.  Paul  was  not  suddenly 
converted,  and  he  was  not  assured  of  his  salvation 
until  he  had  fought  the  good  fight  and  kept  the  faith. 
He  saw  a  vision  and  heard  a  voice,  but  these  only 
suggested  his  conversion.  He  might  have  disobeyed 
both.  He  was  three  days  without  sight  or  food.  He 
might  have  'given  himself  up  to  despair ;  instead,  he 
was  obedient  to  the  heavenly  vision,  and  began  to 
pray  for  mercy.  Then  he  was  baptized — made  a 
Christian.  What  then  ?  He  devoted  himself  to  the 
hardest,  most  repulsive  work  which  humanity  can 
undertake — a  confession  of  his  own  foolishness,  an 
acknowledgment  that  his  life  had  been  a  mistake. 
"  Look  at  me,  Saul  of  Tarsus,  the  clever,  highly  edu- 
cated, energetic,  successful  Pharisee.  There  is  not  a 
ploughman  in  your  fields,  a  beggar  in  your  streets,  so 
ignorant  or  so  poor  as  I."  And  he  had  to  make  this 
confession  to  men  who  doubted  and  derided,  and 
called  him  craven  and  apostate.  He  had  to  proclaim 
himself  a  blasphemer,  a  persecutor  and  informer.  He, 
a  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews,  to  crave  pardon  from  those 
whom  he  had  despised  and  denounced  !  And  for 
what  reward  and  acknowledgment  ?  Beaten  with 
rods,  once  stoned,  thrice  shipwrecked,  in  journey ings 
often,  in  perils  of  waters,  in  perils  of  robbers,  in 
perils  of  his  own  countrymen,  in  perils  of  the  heathen, 


74  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

in  perils  in  the  cifcy,  in  perils  in  the  wilderness,  in 
perils  in  the  sea,  in  perils  amongst  false  brethren, 
in  weariness  and  painfulness,  in  hunger  and  thirst, 
in  cold  and  nakedness  ! 

Ah !  when  men  have  shown  something  of  this 
heroic  faith,  let  them  talk  of  Saul's  conversion  as  the 
model  of  their  own.  Whereas,  what  do  we  too  often 
see  from  those  who  suddenly  proclaim  themselves 
converted  men  ?  First  of  all,  instead  of  Paul's 
humility  — "  0  wretched  man  that  I  am  1  who 
shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death?" 
"  Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners, 
of  whom  I  am  chief ; "  instead  of  his  fear  lest  he 
*'  should  be  a  castaway ; "  instead  of  his  constant 
strivings  to  mount  higher,  when,  "  forgetting  those 
things  Avhich  are  behind,  I  press  toward  the 
mark  for  the  prize  of  my  high  calling  of  God  in 
Christ  Jesus;" — instead  of  this,  we  too  often  find 
these  new  converts  perfectly  satisfied  as  to  their 
spiritual  state,  but  very  doubtful,  inquisitive,  and 
censorious  as  to  the  souls  of  others,  harassing  and 
perplexing  them  with  abrupt  inquiries,  "Are  you 
saved  ?  Do  you  know  that  you  are  saved  ? "  And 
they  are  dissatisfied  with  any  answer  which  is  not 
in  accordance  with  the  dogmas  and  phrases  of  their 
clique,  making  the  heart  of  the  righteous  sad  whom 
God  hath  not  made  sad,  and  strengthening  the  hands 
of  the  wicked  that  he  should  not  return  from  his 
wicked  ways  by  promising  him  life.  These  men  pass, 
pr  think   they  pass,  suddenly  from  one  extreme  tg 


CONVERSION.  75 

another,  and  then,  because  others  will  not  say  as 
they  say,  and  do  as  they  do,  and  because  they  them- 
selves cannot  feel,  whatever  they  may  profess,  quite 
satisfied,  they  are  angry  and  invective.  They  would 
teach  others  when  the}^  should  be  learners. 

What,  for  example,  can  a  man  who  has  led  a 
profligate  life  and  suddenly  desires  to  leave  it,  because 
he  is  satiated  or  disgusted,  or  because  he  begins  to 
be  afraid  of  death  and  judgment  and  God's  anger, — 
what  can  he  know  of  the  mind  that  was  in  Christ  ? 
Do  not  mistake  me,  my  brothers,  to  mean  that  there 
are  no  special  seasons  of  grace,  deliverances  from 
danger,  consolations  to  grief,  writings  on  the  wall, 
graven  on  our  memories  in  bright  letters,  which 
sparkle  like  gems  and  remind  us  of  clearer  manifesta- 
tion, nearer  approaches,  true  conversions,  so  far  as 
they  went,  to  God.  There  are,  I  trust,  many  here 
to  whom  such  manifestations  of  the  Spirit  are  the 
happiest  thoughts  of  their  souls.  I  would  only  offer 
a  warning,  which  few  will  say  in  these  days  is 
unnecessary,  against  mistaking  these  beginnings  and 
renewals,  these  trepidations  and  hopes,  these  gentle 
inducements  or  stern  commandments  to  repent,  for 
a  true  and  complete  repentance,  for  the  one  offering 
which  may  alone  be  accepted — the  offerings  of  our 
souls  and  bodies,  sanctified  by  the  Spirit,  instructed 
by  the  Scriptures,  and  strengthened  by  Sacraments, 
to  be  a  reasonable,  holy,  and  lively  sacrifice  to  God. 

Onward  towards  godliness,  away  from  sin,  freeing 
ourselves  as  we  go  from  the  weight  which  presses 


76  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

down  the  soul,  so  that  it  rises  upward, — that  is 
repentance,  that  is  conversion.  What  glorious  words 
are  written  of  the  poor  prodigal,  "  He  arose  and 
came " !  One  day  he  was  a  disgraced  and  ruined 
man,  sitting  there  with  his  fine  clothes,  smeared  and 
spoiled,  among  the  swine,  and  the  next  day  he  had 
begun  his  repentance,  and  the  angels  of  God  were 
rejoicing  over  him  as  he  went  on  his  journey  home. 

Assuredly  we  need  conversion,  all  of  us  and  always ; 
for  what  does  conversion  mean  ?  It  means,  in  the 
language  in  which  the  blessed  Gospels  were  written, 
simply  a  turning  to  God.  The  best  men  pray  for 
it  most,  because  they  know  the  best  how  hard  it  is 
to  set  God  always  before  them ;  to  be  always  pressing 
onward  and  upward,  heavenward ;  to  follow  the  Divine 
Master  in  gentleness  and  humility,  Who  went  about 
doing  good.  Step  by  step,  here  a  little  and  there 
a  little,  day  by  day,  w^e  are  to  be  converted  towards 
God,  upon  the  road  of  duty.  And  as  our  duty  to 
Him  consists  in  small  but  constant  proofs  of  our  love, 
so  our  duty  towards  our  neighbour  is  performed 
through  little  acts  of  kindness  and  consideration 
which  are  in  the  power  of  all.  Of  course  this  con- 
version is  hard,  because  it  means  turning  away  from 
many  things  that  have  beguiled  and  pleased  us, 
and  because  there  is  no  such  thing  as  Christianity 
without  a  cross.  But  our  gracious  God  will  not 
leave  us  without  witness  of  His  approbation  and 
His  help.  "  I  will_  not  leave  you  comfortless ;  I  will 
come  unto  you." 


CONVERSION.  77 

It  is  related  of  one  of  the  most  famous  of  men, 

Alexander,   who   was    justly   designated   the   Great, 

that  in  his  anxiety  to  know  that  his  armies  were 

cared  for  and  doing  their  duty,  he  would  from  time 

to  time  put  on  the  dress  of  a  private  soldier  and 

would  inspect  his   corps.      One   day,  after  a  great 

victory,  as  he  was  returning  from  such  a  visit,  he 

came  upon  a  soldier  leading  a  mule,  heavily  laden 

with  spoil,  up  the  hill,  on  which  was  the  royal  tent. 

The  day  was  hot,  and  the  load  was  so  heavy  that 

the  humane  soldier  from  time  to  time  relieved  the 

animal  by   taking  portions   upon   himself,  until   at 

last  he  was   almost  overcome,  and  staggered  under 

the  weight.     It  seemed  doubtful  whether  he    could 

make  further  progress,  when  the  king  touched  him 

with  his  hand  and  said,  "  Courage,  my  friend ;  you 

are  but  a  few  paces  from  the  end  of  your  journey. 

Persevere,  and  half  that  spoil  shall  be  yours."     So 

the  great  and  gracious  God  in  heaven  looks  down 

upon  those  who  take  up  their  cross  and  are  mounting 

heavenward,  as  they  follow  His  blessed  Son.     They 

hear  His  promise  that  these  light  afflictions,  which 

endure  but  for  a  time,  shall  work  for  them  a  far  more 

exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory.     The  sweet 

voice   of   the  Master    speaks   to    them  adown    the 

steep — 

"  Art  thou  weary,  art  thou  languid, 
Art  thou  sore  distrest  ? 
'  Come  to  Me,'  it  saith,  *  and  coming, 
Be  at  rest ! ' " 

Go    forward,    my   brother — ''faint    yet 


78  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

"  Onward,  Christian   soldiers ; "   for  it  is    God   that 
giveth  us  the  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

There  are  the  same  encouragements  for  those  who 
work  for  heaven  as  for  those  who  work  for  earth. 
Just  as  the  statesman,  whose  heart  is  in  his  work 
studying  history,  poring  over  dry  statistics,  thinking 
anxiously — just  as  he  is  cheered  and  strengthened, 
not  only  by  the  thought  that  he  is  trying  to  do  good 
to  his  fellow-men  and  to  maintain  the  honour  and 
prosperity  of  his  country,  but  also  by  the  commenda- 
tions of  his  patriotism  and  his  prospect  of  distinction ; 
just  as  the  painter,  after  many  failures  and  many 
months  of  labour,  at  last  achieves  the  eflfect  which 
he  desired,  and  the  great  picture,  which  thousands 
shall  admire,  comes  out  upon  the  canvas  and  develops 
day  by  day  unto  completeness;  just  as  every  man, 
if  he  deserves  a  name,  goes  forth  to  his  work  and  to 
his  labour  until  the  evening,  and,  if  that  work  has 
been  well  done,  goes  home  to  the  keener  relish  of  his 
simple  food,  and  to  the  sweeter  rest,  as  he  feels  h!mself 
a  day  nearer  to  his  well-earned  wage  ;  so  the  Christian, 
who  is  really  trying  by  God's  grace,  given  to  his 
prayers,  to  live  soberly,  righteously,  and  godly  in  this 
present  world,  that,  through  the  love  of  His  Saviour 
he  may  have  everlasting  life,  has  from  time  to  time 
some  happy  intimation  that  his  service  is  acceptable, 
some  encouragements  of  his  Master's  approbation,  not 
to  be  weary  in  well-doing,  some  assurance  that  in  due 
time  he  shall  reap. 

Never  yet  did  a  man  do  anything  for  Jesus,  never 


CONVERSION.  79 

yet  did  a  penitent  give  up  pleasure  for  duty,  without 
a  sure  consciousness  that  his  will  was  in  harmony 
with  God's.  Whenever  you  say  "  No  "  to  the  body 
that  you  may  say  "  Yes  "  to  the  soul ;  whenever  for 
Christ's  sake  you  go  to  the  house  of  mourning 
instead  of  to  the  house  of  feasting,  or  stay  at  home 
when  you  might  have  gone  to  some  merry-making,  or 
that  another  might  have  the  enjoyment,  or  that  you 
might  be  with  those  who  are  in  sickness  or  in  sorrow, 
or  because  they  wish  it  to  whom  you  owe  obedience ; 
whenever  you  give  the  time  which  you  might  have 
wasted  in  idleness  to  God's  service,  or  the  money 
which  you  might  have  spent  in  selfishness  to  His 
poor;  whenever  you  keep  your  lips  from  unkind 
words,  or  from  words  which  are  impure  or  untrue ; 
whenever  you  set  yourself  on  God's  side  and  speak 
out  boldly  for  truth,  though  the  whole  company  be 
united  against  you,  and  think  you  bigoted,  supersti- 
tious, dictatorial ; — you  shall  know,  when  the  victory 
for  self  has  been  won,  that  the  Lord  careth  for  the 
righteous,  and  shall  feel  the  sunshine  of  His  love. 

You  must  be  prepared  for  deceptive  arguments. 
"Are  not  men  and  women  spoken  of  in  the  New 
Testament  as  saved  ? "  Yes,  as  all  may  be  said  to 
be  saved  by  that  one  perfect  and  sufficient  sacrifice, 
oblation,  and  satisfaction,  which  Christ  made  upon 
the  Cross  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world,  hut  on  con- 
ditions ;  and  all  the  baptized  are  spoken  of  as  being 
in  a  state  of  salvation,  but  it  is  nowhere  said  that 
these   conditions   are   suddenly   fulfilled,   or    in  any 


80  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

measure  fulfilled,  until  we  have  finished  our  course,, 
and  held  the  beginning  of  our  confidence  steadfast 
unto  the  end.  There  is  no  exception  to  St.  Peter's 
law,  that  we  must  pass  the  time  of  ^our  sojourning 
here  in  fear. 

The  Israelites  were  saved  from  the  Egyptians. 
They  saw  their  enemies  dead  on  the  seashore.  They 
were  led  towards  the  promised  land,  "  in  the  daytime 
with  a  cloud,  and  all  the  night  through  with  a  light 
of  fire."  God  taught  them,  warned,  encouraged,  and 
gave  them  bread  from  heaven  to  eat.  But  with  many 
of  them  He  was  not  well  pleased,  and  they  were  over- 
thrown in  the  wilderness ;  their  bones  lay  scattered 
before  the  pit,  like  as  when  one  breaketh  and  heweth 
wood  upon  the  earth ;  and  the  history  of  their  lusts 
and  idolatry,  their  fornications  and  murmurings,  are 
recorded,  St.  Paul  tells  us,  for  our  ensample  and  admo- 
nition, lest  we,  once  saved  by  baptismal  water,  as  they 
by  the  Ked  Sea,  we  divinely  guided  and  instructed, 
we  to  whom  is  offered  the  Bread  of  Life  which 
came  down  from  heaven,  should  fall  into  the  same 
condemnation. 

"There  is  no  condemnation  for  us,"  it  may  be 
replied.  "  We  are  of  those  of  whom  Christ  said,  '  He 
that  heareth  My  Word  and  believeth,  hath  everlasting 
life,  and  shall  not  come  into  condemnation,  but  is 
passed  from  death  unto  life ; '  and  St.  Paul  repeats  the 
words,  '  There  is  no  condemnation  for  them  that  are 
in  Christ  Jesus.' "  But  there  were  many  in  our  Lord's 
day  who   believed  for  a  time,  but  who  left  Him 


CONVERSION.  8 1 

and  walked  no  more  with  Him.  Hymenaeus  and 
Alexander  made  shipwreck  concerning  faith;  Demas 
forsook  Paul,  having  loved  this  present  world.  And 
so  the  Apostle  warns  the  Romans  that  this  freedom 
from  condemnation  is  only  for  those  "  who  walk  not 
after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit." 

My  brothers,  there  is  only  one  real  conversion— that 
love  of  Jesus,  which,  by  patient  continuance  in  well- 
doing, follows,  faint  but  pursuing,  in  His  steps ;  afar 
off,  like  St.  Peter,  but  praying  always — 

"  Nearer,  my  Grod,  to  Thee, 
Nearer  to  Thee  ; 
E'en  though  it  be  a  cross 
That  raiseth  me." 


VI. 

UNBELIEF. 

I.   The   Origin. 


"  Take  heed,  brethren,  lest  there  be  in  any  of  you  an  evil  heart  of 
unbelief." — Heb.  iii.  12. 


This  book,  the  Bible,  is  a  history  of  unbelief,  from 
the  time  that  the  woman  lost  her  faith  in  God's 
AvarniDg,  "Thou  shalt  surely  die,"  until  the  Saviour 
said,  *' Because  I  tell  you  the  truth,  ye  believe  Me 
not.  ...  Ye  will  not  come  unto  Me,  that  ye  might 
have  life." 

Ever  since,  there  has  been  in  mankind  this  evil 
heart  of  unbelief,  sometimes  openly  acknowledged,  but 
far  more  commonly  disavowed  by  the  lips,  although 
evidently  set  forth  in  the  life.  Even  those  who  con- 
tinue steadfast  in  the  faith  have  to  contend  earnestly 
with  its  subtle  influence,  and  when  their  soul  is 
assailed  by  its  temptations,  they  cry  with  tears,  like 
the  father  whose  son  was  grievously  tormented  by  an 
evil  spirit,  "  Lord,  I  believe  ;  help  Thou  mine  unbelief" 

Men  of  my  age  have  witnessed  a  most  remarkable 
transformation  in  the  external  aspect,  signs,  and  evi- 


UNBELIEF,  "^l 

clences  of  unbelief.  Some  fifty  years  ago  there  was, 
as  always,  the  latent  disease,  but  we  saw  no  outward 
symptoms — the  consuming  heat  showed  neither  smoke 
nor  flame.  Unbelief  had  neither  speech  nor  language ; 
it  was  not  heard  in  conversation,  nor  read  in  literature; 
it  was  unknown  professedly  in  our  colleges  and  schools. 
The  law  forbade  it,  until  the  repeal  of  the  Corpora- 
tion and  Test  Act,  in  our  legislatures  and  public 
officers.  But  now  it  is  no  longer  a  pestilence  that 
walketh  in  darkness,  but  the  sickness  that  destroyeth 
at  noonday,  and  we  may  almost  say  of  Christianity,  as 
the  Jews  said  of  it  to  St.  Paul  at  Rome,  "  As  concern- 
ing this  sect,  we  know  that  it  is  everywhere  spoken 
against."  It  is  not  only  that  the  very  abjects  publicly 
blaspheme,  and  the  drunkards  make  songs  upon  it ; 
not  only  that  religion  is  caricatured  and  parodied  in 
our  parks;  but  men  of  intellect  and  culture  are 
reclothing  in  elegant  diction  the  old  arguments 
against  the  faith. 

We  remember  a  time  when  there  seemed  to  be 
an  armistice  between  Christ  and  anti-Christ.  Now 
they  have  set  the  battle  in  array,  army  against 
army.  Now  unbelief,  like  Moloch,  sceptred  king, 
stands  forth  the  stronger  and  the  fiercer  spirit,  and 
cries  aloud,  "My  sentence  is  for  open  war."  But 
thanks  be  to  God,  the  aggressive  force  is  faith.  It 
is  the  revival  of  religion  which  has  evoked  the 
hostility  of  the  infidel,  and  therefore,  so  far  from 
accepting  the  inferences  which  some  have  drawn,  and 
from  repeating  those  plaintive  disparagements  which 


84  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

suggest  that  we  live  in  more  evil  days,  I  am  led  as 
a  believer  to  directly  opposite  conclusions ;  because 
to  any  man  who  is  convinced  by  the  divine  witness 
within  him  of  revealed  truth,  and  by  the  fulfilment 
of  promise  and  prophecy  in  the  history  of  the  world 
without,  that  God  will  maintain  His  own  cause,  and 
will  not  suffer  that  truth  to  fail, — to  him  inquiry  is 
so  immeasurably  superior  to  ignorance,  interest  to 
indifference,  and  energy  to  sloth.  Only  weeds  and 
vermin  and  poisonous  exhalations  thrive  in  stagnant 
waters.  There  is  hope  in  the  tossings  of  fever;  none 
in  the  painless  silence  which  tells  that  mortification 
has  set  in.  Archbishop  Leighton  says, "  Dubious  ques- 
tioning is  much  better  evidence  than  that  senseless 
dulness  which  most  take  for  believing;  and  though 
the  faithful  may  seem  to  be  minished,  the  Church  may 
gain  in  intensity  that  which  she  loses  in  extent." 

And  this  is,  of  course,  what  Tennyson  means  when 
he  says — 

"  There  lives  more  faith  in  honest  doubt, 
Believe  me,  than  in  half  the  creeds;** 

namely,  that  a  doubt  which  is  so  real  that  it  must 
declare  itself,  and  challenge  a  contest,  is  brave  and 
true  and  hopeful,  whereas  the  formal  utterance  of 
a  creed  may  be  only  a  vain  oblation  from  those  of 
whom  it  is  written,  "  This  people  honoureth  Me 
with  their  lips,  but  their  heart  is  far  from  Me." 

There  was  only  one  class  of  men,  when  our  blessed 
Lord  was  upon  earth,  who  always  excited  His  righteous 
wrath — the  hypocrites,  the  Pharisees,  who  loved  the 


UNBELIEF.  85 

praises  of  men  rather  than  the  praises  of  God ;  who 
widened  their  phylacteries  and  advertised  their  alms, 
until  they  persuaded  others  and  half  persuaded  them- 
selves that  they  were  righteous.  Their  case  was 
hopeless.  They  said,  "  We  see,"  therefore  their  sin 
remained.  But  when  Thomas  said,  "Except  I  shall 
see  in  His  hands  the  print  of  the  nails,  and  put  my 
finger  into  the  print  of  the  nails,  and  thrust  my 
hand  into  His  side,  I  will  not  believe,"  Jesus  saitli 
unto  him,  ''Reach  here  thy  finger  and  behold,  and 
reach  here  thy  hand  and  thrust  it  into  My  side ;  and 
be  not  faithless,  but  believing."  And  when  all  the 
Apostles  came  and  said  unto  Him,  "  Increase  our 
faith,"  though  at  first  He  rebuked  them,  as  well  He 
might,  yet  no  long  time  after  He  showed  to  them, 
in  the  miraculous  healing  of  the  lepers,  and  by  their 
conduct  before  and  after  they  were  healed,  the  con- 
ditions and  the  power  of  a  saving  faith. 

But  in  whatever  form  this  unbelief  in  Christianity 
is  found,  whether  proclaiming  itself  in  avowed  hos- 
tility, or  disclaiming  itself  in  words,  and  disguising 
with  outward  observances  a  corrupt  and  unfaithful 
life,  it  proceeds  as  a  rule  from  the  same  origin.  It 
is  the  consequence,  before  it  is  the  cause,  of  error, 
disobedience,  and  sin.  John  Keble — I  was  told  by 
his  friend — was  asked  by  Justice  Coleridge  what  he 
thought  of  modern  scepticism,  and  his  answer  was, 
"  that  it  always  suggested  to  him  a  large  amount  of 
self-conceit,  and  that  he  was  quite  sure  that  in  every 
unbeliever    there    was    something    morally  wrong." 


S6  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

Unbelief  is  a  confession  of  defeat,  though  it  be  made 
unconsciously ;  an  apology  for  the  submission  of  the 
spirit  to  the  flesh,  of  baptismal  grace  to  innate  cor- 
ruption, of  good  to  evil.  It  may  be  in  rare  instances 
that  which  it  so  often  professes  to  be,  the  yearning 
for  truth,  of  a  mind  dissatisfied  with  revealed  religion ; 
but  it  exists  mainly,  because  it  is  afraid  of  the  truth, 
because  it  magnifies  its  severities  and  refuses  its 
restraints,  because  it  will  not  learn  from  Him  who 
alone  can  teach,  and  who  assures  us  that  if  we  will 
only  submit  our  pride  to  His  humility,  His  yoke  will 
be  easy  and  His  burden  light,  and  that  we  shall  find 
rest  for  our  souls. 

"  Wicked  and  impure  lives,"  so  writes  to  me  a 
working  man,  who  has  a  large  knowledge  of  his 
brethren,  "  keep  more  people  away  from  Christ  and 
His  Church  than  infidelity  of  mind ; "  and  it  has  been 
well  said,  "Faith  becomes  suspected  only  when  it 
begins  to  be  troublesome,  and  to  this  day  unbelief 
has  never  made  a  sensualist,  but  sensualism  has  made 
nearly  all  the  unbelievers."  The  yoke  of  faith  is 
never  rejected,  but  in  order  to  shake  oflT  the  yoke  of 
duty ;  and  religion  would  never  have  an  enemy,  were 
it  not  itself  the  enemy  of  licentiousness  and  vice. 
Men  are  irreligious  because  they  are  first  vicious, 
and  they  hate  the  truth  of  Christianity  because  they 
hate  its  practice.  Could  we  but  induce  them  to 
change  their  lives,  we  should  find  it  no  very  hard 
matter  to  change  their  judgment. 

He  that  is  a  good  man  is  three-fourths  on  his  way 


UNBELIEF,  87 

to  be  a  Christian,  wheresoever  he  lives  and  whatso- 
ever he  is  called.  It  is  with  insincere  Christians  now 
as  with  the  Israelites  of  old,  "  Hast  thou  brought  us 
out  of  a  land  that  floweth  with  milk  and  honey  to 
kill  us  in  the  wilderness  ? "  The  Cross  is,  as  it  was  in 
St.  Paul's  time,  to  the  Jews  a  stumbling-block,  to  the 
Greeks  foolishness.  Whether  we  look  at  the  gene- 
rations of  old,  or  in  the  world  around  us,  or  into 
our  own  lives,  we  shall  see  that  the  faith  which  is 
so  easy  to  innocence  becomes  difficult  and  unsettled 
in  exact  proportion  as  that  innocence  is  preserved 
or  lost ;  that  doubt  is  the  after-thought  and  not  the 
motive  of  that  evil  heart  of  unbelief. 

"  Faults  in  the  life  breed  errors  in  the  brain, 
And  these  reciprocally  those  again  : 
Our  mind  and  conduct  mutually  imprint 
Their  stamp  and  image  on  each  other's  mint." 

Eve  had  never  heeded  Satan's  suggestions  to  un- 
belief had  she  not  longed  to  taste  of  the  forbidden 
fruit.  Lot's  sons-in-law  were  given  over  to  sin,  and 
then  they  mocked  at  the  warning  to  escape  with 
their  lives.  The  sons  of  Eliab  and  their  followers 
disputed  the  authority  of  Moses*  and  Aaron,  and  the 
priesthood  also,  not  because  they  could  disprove 
the  divine  commission  of  their  chiefs,  but  because 
they  were  disappointed  in  their  expectation  of  carnal 
enjoyment,  and  would  not  obey  the  commandment 
which  had  been  sent  to  them  from  heaven  just  before 
they  rebelled.  "  Seek  not  after  your  own  heart  and 
with  your  own  eyes."     Disappointment  preceded  dis- 


88  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

belief.  Balaam  knew  very  well  that  God  would  not 
alter  his  instructions,  for  out  of  his  own  mouth  that 
wicked  servant  had  said,  "  God  is  not  a  man,  that 
He  should  lie ;  .  .  .  hath  He  said,  and  shall  He  not 
do  it  ?  and  hath  He  spoken,  and  shall  He  not  make 
it  good  ? "  He  knew  that  he  was  following  the  wages 
of  unrighteousness  when  he  said  to  the  angel,  "  If  it 
displease  thee,  I  will  get  me  back  again,"  but  his 
heart  was  set  on  Balak's  silver  and  gold,  and  he 
ran  greedily  after  his  reward  to  his  destruction. 
And  so  in  the  New  Testament  the  lawyer  only 
wanted  some  excuse  for  not  obeying  the  command- 
ments which  he  had  just  repeated,  for  not  doing  his 
duty  to  his  neighbour  when  he  asked,  "  Who  is  he  ?  "  ; 
and  the  young  man  who  came  to  Jesus  for  instruction 
went  away  sorrowful,  convinced  that  the  counsel 
which  he  had  received  was  just  what  he  ought  to 
follow,  but  refusing  to  conform  his  will  with  his 
duty,  and  surrendering  the  faith  of  his  soul  to  the 
desire  of  his  senses,  because  he  had  great  possessions. 
Kather  than  cast  his  wheat  into  the  sea,  he  would 
run  the  risk  of  shipwreck. 

Or,  if  we  regard  those  of  our  acquaintance  who 
openly  declare  their  unbelief,  or,  having  a  form  of 
godliness,  practically  deny  the  power  of  it,  do  we 
consider  that  they  are  competent  to  decide  upon 
subjects  which  are  foolishness  to  the  natural  man, 
and  can  only  be  spiritually  discerned?  Have  they 
patiently  tested  that  which  they  reject  ?  Are  they 
learned  in  the  Scriptures,  and  do  they  study  them 


UNBELIEF.  89 

with  a  prayerful  interest,  and  not  in  a  captious,  con- 
troversial spirit  ?  Sir  Isaac  Newton  said  to  Dr. 
Halley,  when  he  was  declaiming  against  Christianity, 
"Dr.  Halley,  I  am  always  glad  to  hear  you  when 
you  speak  about  astronomy  or  of  mathematics,  because 
these  are  subjects  which  you  have  studied  and  well 
understand ;  but  you  should  not  talk  of  Christianity, 
for  you  have  not  studied  it.  I  have,  and  am  quite 
certain  that  you  know  nothing  of  the  matter." 

Are  these  unbelievers  men  of  high  and  noble  pur- 
poses, large-hearted,  unselfish,  brave,  pure,  gentlemen, 
despising  all  that  is  mean,  and  cruel,  and  foul,  and 
false  ?  Or  are  they,  as  a  rule,  selfish,  licentious, 
arrogant,  wise  in  their  own  conceit,  and  only  con- 
siderate of  those  who  promote  their  enjoyments  ?  Are 
they,  as  a  rule,  the  men  whom  you  would  desire  to 
introduce  to  your  mother,  or  sister,  or  wife;  from 
whom  you  would  seek  advice  in  perplexity,  or  con- 
solation in  trouble  ?  Do  you  find  in  the  man,  who 
speaks  or  lives  in  opposition  to  the  Christian  faith, 
the  "  friend  that  loveth  at  all  times,  and  the  brother 
born  for  adversity  "  ?  Is  he  gentle  and  easy  to  be 
entreated,  or  is  he  sudden  and  quick  in  quarrel, 
bitter  and  unforgiving  ?  Is  not  the  evil  heart  of 
unbelief  warm  only  in  self-indulgence,  and  cold  to 
all  beside  ? 

We  of  the  priesthood  have  a  large  and  painful 
experience  of  the  grievous  harm  which  sin  inflicts 
upon  faith.  When  a  shadow  falls  upon  the  happy 
face  of  boyhood,  or  a  lurid  light  upon  the  beauty  of 


90  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

girlhood,  when  the  merry  voice  becomes  harsh  and 
painful,  and  the  frank  smile  of  confidence  is  ex- 
changed for  the  sullen  look,  we  are  not  surprised  to 
see  irreverence  take  the  place  of  devotion,  indifference 
instead  of  anxiety,  or  to  hear  of  disobedience,  loss 
of  affection,  cessation  of  prayers,  at  home.  Or  when 
young  men  come  to  us  and  complain  that  it  is  so 
hard  to  bear  constant  sarcasm,  so  hard  to  see  those 
constant  sneers,  so  hard  to  resist  those  invitations  to 
taste  of  forbidden  fruit; — who  are  they  that  thus 
blaspheme  and  ridicule  and  tempt  ?  Are  they  not 
those  who  have  lost  innocence  and  affect  to  despise 
it?  What  is  your  recollection,  your  estimate  now 
of  those  who  first  suggested  doubt  and  unbelief,  who 
first  said  to  you,  "  There  is  no  harm ;  everybody  does 
it ;  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry  "  ? 

Or,  again,  when  men  and  women  come  to  us  for 
instruction  and  relief,  with  the  exceeding  bitter 
cry,  "  I  cannot  believe ;  I  cannot  give  myself  to 
religion;  I  know  that  it  is  right  and  beautiful, 
that  its  ways  are  ways  of  pleasantness,  and  all 
its  paths  are  peace,  yet  something  holds  me  back. 
It  calls,  but  I  cannot  follow;  I  admire,  but  I  can- 
not copy."  We  find,  on  inquiry,  in  all  these  cases, 
that  the  heart  is  preoccupied ;  that  there  is  an  idol 
in  the  temple  of  the  soul, — God  sitteth,  as  before, 
above  the  cherubims,  but  other  lords  have  dominion 
over  them.  Dark  clouds  have  come  between  them 
and  the  Sun  of  Righteousness.  Their  iniquities  have 
separated  them  and  their  God,  and  their  sins  have 


UNBELIEF.  91 

hid  His  face  from  them.  Not  until  it  has  been 
said  by  the  All-Merciful,  "I  have  blotted  out  as 
a  thick  cloud  thy  transgression,  and  as  a  cloud  thy 
sin/'  and  not  until  those  clouds  have  dissolved  in 
tears  of  repentance,  can  the  divine  light  shine  upon 
that  soul.  The  upper  room  must  be  prepared  and 
made  ready,  or  there  can  be  no  Lord's  Supper  there. 

Take  your  own  experience.  When  did  you  first 
find  religion  irksome  ?  When  were  you  first  inclined 
to  dispute,  to  resist,  to  ignore  it  ?  Was  it  not  when 
you  were  tempted  to  commit,  or  had  committed,  sin  ? 
Was  it  not  when  some  evil  fascination,  some  lewd 
impulse,  allured  you,  that  you  first  wished  the  words 
had  never  been  spoken,  "  I  say  unto  you.  That  whoso- 
ever looketh  on  a  woman  to  lust  after  her  hath  com- 
mitted adultery  with  her  already  in  his  heart ;  "  and 
you  said  to  yourself,  "  This  is  a  hard  saying ;  wdio 
can  hear  it  ?  "  Was  it  not  when  you  were  enticed  to 
do  evil  secretly,  and  were  deceived  by  the  whisper, 
*'  Tush  !  the  Lord  shall  not  see ;  neither  shall  the 
Lord  of  Jacob  regard  it,"  that  you  thought  with 
trembling  of  those  other  words,  "The  eyes  of  the 
Lord  are  in  every  place,  beholding  the  evil  and  the 
good ; "  "  There  is  nothing  covered  that  shall  not  be 
revealed,  neither  hid  that  shall  not  be  known  ; "  "  God 
shall  bring  every  work  unto  judgment,  and  every 
secret  thing,  whether  it  be  good  or  bad  "  ? 

Yes,  those  first  seeds  of  disobedience,  those  early 
transgressions,  which  were  unjust,  revengeful,  dis- 
honest, those  first  irrevocable  words,  which  were  pro- 


92  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

fane,  or  obscene,  or  untrue — these  were  steps  over 
the  boundaries,  which  God  had  set  around  our  fair 
ground  and  goodly  heritage,  into  the  wilderness  of 
unbelief.  It  is  when  we  purposed  to  do  evil,  or  have 
done  it,  that  religion  becomes  an  offence  to  us,  and 
we  say  of  it,  as  Ahab  said  of  Elijah  and  Micaiah, 
*'  Hast  thou  found  me,  0  mine  enemy  ? "  "  Art  thou 
he  that  troubleth  Israel  ? "  "  I  hate  him,  because  he 
does  not  prophesy  good  of  me,  but  evil." 

Sin  acts  upon  faith  as  disease  upon  vegetation.  So 
long  as  a  plant  is  in  the  vigour  of  health,  it  is  beyond 
the  influence  of  blight  or  mildew,  nor  is  it  infested 
by  insects;  but  when  the  roots  are  injured  by  excess 
or  lack  of  moisture,  or  the  branches  and  foliage  are 
scorched  or  starved,  it  droops  and  decays  in  a  debility 
which  is  hopeless  unless  the  circumstances  are 
changed.  And  there  is  something  in  the  poisoned 
sap  which  attracts  and  nourishes  its  most  destructive 
foes.  And  so,  where  with  patient  culture,  and  good 
soil,  and  a  pure  air,  and  the  sunshine  of  heaven,  there 
might  have  been  sweet  flowers  and  luscious  fruits, 
there  is  only  pollution  and  disease  and  death. 

There  are  many  other  causes,  secondary  and  sup- 
plemental, of  this  evil  heart  of  unbelief  The  pride 
of  intellect,  rationalism,  materialism,  agnosticism, 
professing  high  motives,  and  assuming  great  names, 
and  proud  superiority  over  those  whom  they  de- 
nounce as  slaves  of  superstition,  because  they  submit 
their  reason  to  their  faith.  There  are  mental  as 
well  as  carnal  lusts.     The  warning  sounds  in  our  ears 


UNBELIEF.  93 

throughout  the  Testaments,  Old  and  New,  "  Beware 
of  false  prophets  ; "  "  Beware  of  Shemaiah  the  Nehe- 
1am  ite,  for  he  caused  you  to  trust  not  the  light ; " 
"  Beware  lest  any  man  spoil  you  through  philosophy 
and  vain  deceit,  after  the  tradition  of  men,  after  the 
rudiments  of  the  world,  and  not  after  Christ." 

The  people  of  the  Hebrews  heard  declarations  and 
saw  manifestations  of  the  one  true  God ;  but  though 
they  were  without  excuse,  they  became  vain  in  their 
own  imaginations,  and  their  foolish  heart  was  darkened, 
and  they  worshipped  the  images  of  wood,  and  brass, 
and  silver,  and  gold.     The  Christian  has  the  witness 
within  himself,  if  he  will  listen  and  heed,  and  "  to 
feel   a  thing   true    is    a   higher   security  than  any 
laboured  argument ; "  but  too  often  that  witness  has 
been   expelled  by  disobedience,  and  an  idol  set  up 
in  its   place.     When   this   mere  human    wisdom    is 
asked,  "  Canst   thou    by    searching  find   out  God  ? " 
the  answer  is,  "  Yes,  or  I  will  not  own  Him."     Wiser 
than  Solomon — "  No  man  can  find  out  the  work  that 
God  maketh;"  wiser  than  Paul — "Unsearchable  are 
His  judgments,  and  His  ways  past  finding  out;"   it 
ignores   the   evidences,  the   antiquity,  of  a  religion 
whose  Founder  was  foreordained  before  the  founda- 
tion  of  the   world,  yet  whom   you   and   I   worship 
to-day ;   its   lorojphecies,   fulfilled  and  in  fulfilment ; 
its  miracles,  as  manifest  now  in  their  transforming 
spiritual   influence   as   when  the  blind  saw  and   the 
lepers   were  cleansed ;   its   universal   adaptation  v^^;=^^=i 

every  time   and   clime;    its  sublime   superiorities fe  of  the 

(f   UNiVERSl 

V         ^^ 


94  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

all  other  forms  of  belief  It  forgets  the  countless 
exaltations  of  our  humanity — not  only  of  manhood, 
but  of  womanhood,  so  degraded  by  all  false  religions, 
so  dignified  by  the  Incarnation.  It  forgets  that  we 
owe  to  Christianity  the  purest  and  the  surest  happi- 
ness we  know — the  happiness  of  home,  "hearts  of 
each  other  sure ; "  that  it  has  taught  us  a  grander 
courage  than  that  which  the  soldier  shows  in  the 
compulsion  and  excitement  of  the  fight;  patience 
in  all  phases  of  pain;  the  resignation  which  says, 
"It  is  the  Lord:  let  Him  do  what  seemeth  good;" 
that  it  brings  us  a  hopeful  readiness  to  die,  and  that 
it  has  given  to  every  nation  which  has  accepted  it 
all  that  makes  it  noble  and  great  in  history. 

And  in  place  of  all  that  it  overlooks  or  denies, 
what  has  reason,  with  all  its  vaunting,  brought  us, 
or  what  does  it  propose  to  bring  ?  Where  are  the 
gods  of  Hamath  and  Arpad  ?  Where  are  the  gods 
of  Sepharvaim,  Hena,  and  Ivah — the  idols  of  a  mere 
philosophy  ?  Tell  me  of  a  benefit  which  unbelief 
has  conferred  in  compensation  for  all  the  mischief 
which  it  seeks  to  do.  Show  me  a  home  which  is 
happier,  a  life  which  is  brighter,  from  the  theories 
of  the  sceptic  or  the  writings  of  the  agnostic,  except 
so  far  as  they  have  established,  in  far  more  instances 
than  they  would  care  to  know,  the  faith  which  they 
would  propose  to  destroy.  Here  is  the  answer : 
"  Where  is  the  wise  ?  Where  is  the  scribe  ?  Where 
is  the  disputer  of  this  world  ?  Hath  not  God  made 
foolish  the  wisdom  of  this  world  ? '' 


UNBELIEF.  95 

No ;  God  has  given  us  our  reason,  as  He  gave  the 
Law  to  His  people  Israel,  to  be  our  schoolmaster 
to  bring  us  unto  Christ.  He  has  set  to  it  bounds 
which  it  cannot  pass ;  and  when  we  come  to  them 
we  must  take  the  hand  of  faith  by  which  He  would 
lead  us  onward  and  upward. 

"  Reason's  glimmering  ray 
Was  lent,  not  to  assure  our  doubtful  way, 
But  guide  us  upward  to  a  brighter  day. 
How  can  the  less  the  greater  comprehend  ? 
Or  finite  reason  reach  infinity  ? 
For  what  could  fathom  God  were  more  than  He." 

Keason  leads  us  to  the  door  of  the  sanctuary,  and 
then  faith  takes  us  by  the  hand.  "  If  thou  canst  not 
understand  the  pulses  of  thine  arteries,  the  motion 
of  thy  blood,  the  seat  of  thy  memory,  the  rule  of  thy 
dreams,  thy  diseases  and  thy  distempers,  things  that 
thou  bearest  about  thee,  that  cause  thee  pain  and 
sorrow,  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  thou  shouldst 
understand  the  secrets  of  God,  the  causes  of  His  will, 
the  impulses  of  His  Grace,  the  manner  of  His 
Sacraments,  and  the  economy  of  His  Spirit."  * 

If  we  would  reach  the  haven  where  the  immortal 
spirit  longs  to  be,  faith  must  steer  by  the  compass 
of  revelation.  As  we  read  in  the  "  Advancement  of 
Learning,"  we  must  leave  the  pinnace  of  human 
reason  and  go  into  the  ship  of  the  Church,  which 
must  alone  be  governed  by  a  divine  sea-needle  to 
direct  her  course  aright. 

And  so  far  from  faith  in  the  revelation  contracting 

*  Bishop  Jeremy  Taylor. 


96  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKhVG  MEN, 

reason,  faith  accepted  and  adopted  is  the  consistent 
development  of  reason  unto  perfection.  Is  it  not 
reason  to  expect  that  the  Creator  would  make  such 
a  revelation  ?  "  I  had  rather  be  an  atheist,"  it  has  been 
said,  "  than  believe  in  a  God  who  kept  His  creatures 
in  such  a  darkness  and  despair."  What  would  you 
think  of  a  father  who  never  told  his  son  a  word 
about  his  affection,  his  heritage,  or  his  duty  ? 

Philosophy  asks  with  Pilate,  "  What  is  truth  ? " 
There  is  only  one  answer :  "  I  am  the  Truth."  St. 
Augustine  wrote  that  he  had  read  the  writings  of 
the  great  Greek  and  Roman  authors  with  deep 
interest  and  high  admiration,  but  he  had  not  found 
in  them  any  such  words  as  those  which  spake  so 
directly  to  his  heart  and  to  his  need,  "  Come  unto 
Me,  all  ye  that  travail  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I 
will  give  you  rest." 

Impatience,  again,  produces  unbelief  It  is  another 
form  of  rationalism,  which,  while  it  professes  to 
accept  Christianity,  does  not  hesitate  to  alter  the 
conditions  on  which  alone  it  can  be  understood  and 
practised.  It  accommodates,  it  alters,  it  misreads 
the  divine  instructions,  and  then,  because  it  fails, 
it  doubts.  We  smile  at  the  child,  who  puts  a  seed 
or  a  twig  into  its  little  garden,  and  comes  next  day  to 
look  for  flower  or  fruit,  as  though,  like  Jonah's  gourd, 
it  had  grown  up  in  the  night.  But  what  do  we,  who 
are  so  confident  that  we  have  put  away  childish 
things?  We  say  brief,  hurried  prayers,  and  then, 
because  they  are  not  answered  just  when  and  how 


UNBELIEF.  07 

we  wish,  we  think  that  they  are  not  heard.  We  make 
some  feeble  effort,  give  some  paltry  gift,  and  because 
we  are  not  lauded  and  thanked,  we  are  offended. 

•'  One  good  deed,  dying  tongueless, 
Slaughters  a  thousand  waiting  upon  that." 

We  hear  people  say,  "  I  went  to  church,  but  I  got  no 
good."  What  good  ?  Forgiveness,  comfort,  instruction, 
hope  ?  Did  they  feel  the  need  of  them  ?  Was  it  evident, 
from  the  reverent  abasement,  earnestness  with  which 
they  prayed,  that  they  were  indeed,  as  they  described 
themselves,  "  miserable  sinners "  at  the  feet  of  One 
who  alone  could  pardon  ?  Could  all  men  know,  from 
their  eager,  hearty  supplication,  that  they  were 
addressing  One  who  is  able  to  save  to  the  uttermost 
those  who  come  to  God  by  Him  ?  Or  do  they  seem 
to  say,  as  they  sit  at  their  ease,  with  Ephraim,  "  They 
shall  find  no  iniquity  in  me ; "  or  with  the  Laodicean, 
"I  am  rich,  and  in  need  of  nothing,"  not  knowing 
that  they  are  poor,  and  miserable,  and  blind,  and 
naked? 

We  may  gratify  our  evil  desires  at  once.  The 
harlot  smiles,  and  the  wine  sparkles  in  the  glass. 
We  need  not  wait  for  the  pleasures  of  iniquity. 
Satan  says,  "Here  and  now."  God  says,  "There, 
hereafter."  It  is  written,  "  In  your  patience  possess 
ye  your  souls ; "  and  whoever  obeys  the  instruction 
will  have  David's  blessing,  "  I  waited  patiently  for 
the  Lord,  and  He  hath  inclined  unto  me,  and  heard 
my  call;  IJe  has  put  a  new  song  in  my  mouth,  even 
a  thanksgiving  unto  our  God." 

H 


98  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

Misrepresentations  of  religion,  exaggerations  of  its 
severity,  which  have  not  the  warranty  of  the  Scripture 
nor  the  authority  of  the  Church,  coercions  and 
restrictions,  which  neither  we  nor  our  fathers  were 
able  to  bear,  incline  men  to  unbelief.  A  narrow 
bigotry,  which  has  learned  no  language  but  its  own 
shibboleth,  and  can  see  no  good  in  those  who  differ 
from  it;  wL.ch  "limits  the  Holy  One  of  Israel," 
forgetting — 

"  That  the  love  of  God  is  broader 
Than  the  measure  of  man's  mind, 
And  the  heart  of  the  Eternal 
Is  So  wonderfully  kind. 

"  But  we  make  that  love  too  narrow, 
With  false  limits  of  our  own ; 
And  we  magnify  His  strictness 
AVith  a  zeal  He  will  not  own." 

And  I  would  mention,  as  a  very  sad  and  common 
example  of  this  severity,  the  harm  which  is  done  to 
children,  and  to  young  men  and  maidens,  by  those 
parents  and  teachers  who  set  religion  before  them 
rather  as  a  compulsory  task  than  as  a  message  of 
love,  and  seek  to  enforce  obedience  by  the  curses 
of  Ebal,  rather  than  to  win  it  by  the  blessings  of 
Gerizim.  What  is  the  result  ?  A  superficial  formalism, 
and  the  *'  worst  form  of  atheism — hypocrisy."  Con- 
straint makes  religion  odious  ;  love  makes  a  thou- 
sand conversions  to  one  which  is  caused  by  fear. 

Irreverence  in  speech  or  action,  wild  words  on 
sacred  subjects,  a  forgetful  apathy  in  holy  places, 
light  jests  on  religious  subjects,  puns  upon  Scripture, 


UNBELIEF,  99 

riddles  and  comic  songs  upon  scriptural  and  other 
sacred  subjects,  careless  sarcasms, — these  not  only 
indicate,  but  they  aggravate,  with  a  subtle,  deadly 
peril,  the  disease  of  unbelief.  St.  Paul  is  inspired 
to  tell  us  that  to  serve  God  acceptably  we  must 
serve  with  reverence  and  godly  fear.  In  vain  we 
pray  to  our  heavenly  Father,  "  Hallowed  be  Thy 
Name,"  if  we  do  not  always  utter  and  hear  it  with 
a  profound  respect  and  humility;  or  if,  ourselves 
loving  salutations  in  the  market-place,  and  making 
profound  obeisance  to  our  rulers  here,  we  heed  not 
the  proclamation  of  the  King  of  kings,  that  at  the 
Name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow.  In  vain  we 
come  into  His  palace  without  sign  of  fear  or  of 
love. 

Good  Isaac  Walton  thus  speaks  of  one  who  was 
irreverent  and  profane :  "  He  is  no  companion  for  me, 
for  most  of  his  conceits  are  either  Scripture  jests  or 
lascivious  jests,  for  which  I  count  no  man  witty : 
for  the  devil  will  help  a  man  that  way  inclined  to 
the  first ;  and  his  own  corrupt  nature,  which  he 
always  carries  with  him,  to  the  second ;  but  a  man 
who  entertains  a  company  with  wit  and  mirth,  and 
leaves  out  the  sin,  he  is  the  man  for  me." 

There  are  many,  who  call  themselves  Christian 
gentlemen,  who  seem  to  think  that  humorous  imagi- 
nations and  incidents — "good  stories,"  as  they  term 
them — ^must  be  either  profane  or  obscene,  and  who 
have  not  the  refinement,  much  less  the  religion,  to 
distinguish  between  the  use  and  the  abuse  of  wit. 


100  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

One  of  the  wittiest  of  men  said,  ''When  wit  is 
combined  with  sense  or  information,  when  it  is  soft- 
ened by  benevolence  and  is  restrained  by  strong 
principle,  when  it  is  in  the  hands  of  a  man  who 
loves  honour,  justice,  decency,  good-nature,  morality, 
and  religion  (which  includes  them  all),  wit  is  then 
a  beautiful  and  delightful  part  of  our  nature.  Man 
could  direct  his  ways  by  plain  reason,  and  support 
his  life  by  tasteless  food ;  but  God  has  given  us  wit, 
and  flavour,  and  brightness,  and  perfumes,  and  music 
to  enliven  the  days  of  fnan's  pilgiimage,  and  to 
charm  his  pained  steps  *  o'er  the  burning  marl.' "  * 

*  Sydney  Smith. 


VII. 

UNBELIEF. 

II.  The  Results. 

"  Out  of  the  heart  proceed  evil  thoughts,  murders,  adulteries, 
fornications,  thefts,  false  witness,  blasphemies."— St.  Matt.  xv.  19. 

"  When  lust  hath  conceived,  it  bringeth  forth  sin ; 
and  sin,  when  it  is  finished,  bringeth  forth  death." 
When  concupiscence  prevails  over  the  conscience,  and 
the  will,  abusing  its  liberty,  corrupts  the  under- 
standing, and  the  law  of  the  mind  surrenders  itself 
to  the  law  of  the  members,  and  the  spirit  in  re- 
generate men  is  expelled  by  carnal  hostilities,  it 
becomes  almost  impossible  to  distinguish  any  longer 
between  the  cause  and  the  consequence  of  unbelief 

We  doubt  because  we  have  disobeyed,  and  we  dis- 
obey because  we  doubt. 

When  the  soul  descends  from  the  vantage-ground 
of  faith  and  innocence,  it  leaves  a  pure  sweet  air, 
the  clear  light  and  genial  warmth  of  the  sunshine 
upon  the  hill  of  Zion,  for  the  mists  and  miasma  and 
lurid  heat  of  the  valley  of  the  children  of  Hinnom, 
the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death ;  but  though  the 


102  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN, 

descent  is  swift  and  easy,  the  distance  is  so  great 
that  it  seems  to  be  slow,  and  though  the  whole  scene 
is  finally  changed,  all  joy  darkened,  and  the  mirth  of 
the  land  gone,  the  surroundings  alter  so  gradually 
that  the  traveller  does  not  note  the  transforma- 
tion. 

I  have  read  of  a  criminal  who  endured  the  most 
cruel  torments  upon  the  rack  with  a  marvellous  re- 
solution, under  the  condition  (according  to  the  custom 
of  that  time  and  place)  that  if  he  went  through  the 
ordeal  without  confessing  his  crime,  he  would  escape 
death.     And  when  he  was  asked  how  he  found  the 
courage  and  the  power,  he  replied  that  before  he  was 
to  ascend  the  rack,  he  caused  the  picture  of  a  jibbet 
to  be  drawn  upon  his  foot,  and  that  when  the  pain 
became  intense  he  fixed  his  eyes  upon  it,  and  that 
the  fear  and   abhorrence  of  dying  such   a  death,  if 
he  confessed,  enabled   him  to  bear,  without  making 
the  confession,  which  would  have  realized  the  vision 
before  him,  the  terrible  torture  of  the  rack.     And,  in 
like  manner,  it  would  be  good  for  us  if,  when  we  are 
undergoing  temptations   from  which  we   could   find 
relief  by  surrender  and  concessions,  and  which  have 
such  a  powerful  influence  upon  us  that  they  seem  to 
be  irresistible  to  our  poor,  weak,  corrupted  nature — 
it  would  be  good  for  us  to  fix  our  eyes,  as  did  the 
criminal,  upon  that  which  will  follow  our  defeat ;  to 
realize,  so   far  as  we  can,  the  sure  degradation  of 
"  sorrow  dogging  sin." 

It  would  be  good  for  you  young  men  if,  when 


UNBELIEF.  103 

temptation  was  whispering  words  sweeter  than  honey, 

yet  be  they  very  swords,  in  your  ears,  "  Life  is  short 

and  tedious;"  "Time  a  passing  shadow,  let  us  enjoy 

the  present  and  leave  no  flower  unplucked ; "   "  Let 

none  of  us  go  without  his  part  of  our  voluptuousness, 

and  let  us  leave  tokens  of  our  cheerfulness  in  every 

place ;  " — it  would  be  well  for  you  to  hear  and  heed 

that  voice  which  speaks  to  you  from  heaven,  "  Behold, 

all  ye  that  kindle  a   fire " — the  consuming   fire   of 

carnal   lust — "and   compass    yourselves   about   with 

sparks  " — instead  of  following  the  light  of  the  Spirit : 

"walk  in  the  light  of  your  fire,  and  in  the  sparks 

which  ye  have  kindled;   this  shall  ye  have  of  Mine 

hand  ;  ye  shall  lie  down  in  sorrow."     "  Be  sure  your 

sin  will  find  you  out."     The  heathen  knew  it,  and 

confessed — 

"  The  gods  are  just,  and  of  our  pleasant  vices 
Make  instruments  to  scourge  us." 

And  as  with  carnal,  so  with  mental  sins ;  as  with 
murders,  adulteries,  fornications,  and  thefts,  so  with 
evil  thoughts,  false  witness,  blasphemy,  unbelief  If 
any  Christian  is  beginning  to  doubt  the  principles 
which  he  learnt  from  his  father,  and  the  power  of 
the  prayers  which  he  was  taught  at  his  mother's 
knee,  to  question  such  things  as  transcend  his  under- 
standing or  thwart  his  inclinations,  to  deny  the 
inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  before  he  has  searched 
them,  the  divine  institution  of  the  Church  before 
he  has  read  its  history,  to  criticize  the  doctrine  and 
creeds  of  Christendom  as  though  they  were  modern 


104  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

essays ;  if  he  would  learn  from  the  common  ex- 
amples how  doubt  leads  to  disputation,  and  dispu- 
tation to  denial,  and  denial  to  hostility  and  hate ; 
if  he  would  take  to  heart  the  pitiful  confessions  of 
those  who  have  lost  their  first  love  ;  if  he  could  hear, 
as  we  of  the  priesthood  so  often  hear,  "  It  has  gone, 
and  I  cannot  regain  it ; " — how  would  such  an  one 
rejoice  to  feel  that,  still  in  the  great  Ark  of  safety, 
he  had  not  made  shipwreck  of  his  faith  I  What 
thankful  joy  to  wake  out  of  his  dismal  dreams  to 
the  brightness  of  his  Father's  house;  to  go  forth, 
after  his  restless  fear,  into  the  fresh  air,  amid  the 
singing  birds;  to  rise  up,  like  the  lame  man,  and 
go  with  the  Apostles  into  the  temple,  walking  and 
leaping  and  praising  God  ! 

For  what  does  a  man  gain  in  exchange  for  his 
faith  ?  A  mess  of  pottage  for  his  birthright  as  a 
child  of  God  and  an  inheritor  of  heaven ;  the  rewards 
of  divination,  and  to  be  constrained  to  dwell  with 
Mesech,  and  to  have  his  habitation  in  the  tents  of 
Kedar,  in  place  of  the  approbations  of  conscience, 
the  communion  of  saints,  and  the  unsearchable  riches 
of  Christ. 

Our  whole  being,  every  phase  of  our  existence, 
every  thought,  every  word,  every  action,  is  changed 
as  we  lose  our  faith.  The  world  in  which  we  live 
is  contracted  more  and  more.  We  are  like  the 
prisoner  in  the  story,  "  The  Man  in  the  Iron  Shroud," 
who  sees  the  walls  of  his  cell  slowly  closing  in  to 
crush  him.     We  are  as  sailors,  who  have  roved  over 


UNBELIEF.  105 

boundless  seas,  in  some  sunless,  landlocked,  crowded, 
and  pestilential  port.  That  which  we  can  handle 
and  see,  touch  and  taste,  which  we  think  we  can 
prove,  which  "we  know  to  be  a  fact," — that  is 
our  boundary  of  belief;  and  the  grand,  beautiful, 
infinite,  eternal  universe,  in  which  we  lived  as 
children  with  Him  who  made  it  and  redeemed  it, 
with  the  angels  and  with  the  saints,  is  shut  and 
known  to  us  no  more.  The  ladder  which  reached 
from  earth  to  heaven,  and  on  which  we  saw  the 
angels  come  and  go,  has  disappeared;  because,  of 
course,  prayer  goes  with  faith.  First  it  becomes  a 
form,  then  a  weariness ;  then  it  is  shortened,  said 
irregularly  once  a  day,  discontinued.  And  then  the 
words  which,  so  tradition  tells  us,  were  heard  in  the 
temple  at  Jerusalem  just  before  the  city  was  de- 
stroyed, "Let  us  depart  hence,"  might  be  said  of 
that  prayerless  soul.  "Ichabod,  the  glory  is  de- 
parted ; "  "  Ephraim  is  joined  to  his  idols :  let  him 
alone." 

And  then  follows  a  period,  the  most  deplorable, 
the  most  fearful,  in  the  faithless  life,  a  season  in  which 
the  unbeliever  is  satisfied  with  a  sense  of  his  own 
security  in  sin,  when  he  is  persuaded  that  because  he 
feels  no  longer  any  hesitation  or  scruple  before  his 
self-indulgence,  or  regret  or  remorse  afterwards,  that 
his  pleasures  are  not  only  sweet  but  harmless.  The 
understanding  is  darkened,  as  St.  Paul  writes,  by  the 
blindness  of  the  heart,  and  the  man,  being  past  feeling, 
gives  himself  over  unto  lasciviousness. 


I06  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN, 

"  I  sin,  and  heaven  and  earth  go  round 
As  if  no  evil  deed  were  done  ; 
As  if  God's  blood  had  never  flowed, 
To  hinder  sin  or  to  atone. 

"  I  walk  the  earth  with  lightsome  step, 
Smile  at  the  sunshine,  breathe  the  air, 
Do  my  own  will,  nor  ever  heed 

Gethsemane,  and  that  long  prayer." 

What  is  the  explanation  ?  By  degrees  the  con- 
science has  been  seared;  drop  by  drop,  as  with 
the  eggs  of  the  throstle  in  the  petrifying  cave,  that, 
which  might  have  been  life  and  music,  has  been 
changed  to  silence  and  to  stone.  There  has  been 
ossification  of  the  spiritual  heart ;  the  perception  of 
the  true  and  the  false,  the  power  to  distinguish 
between  right  and  wrong,  has  been  first  confused 
and  then  destroyed.  Men  call  evil  good,  and  good 
evil.  They  put  darkness  for  light,  and  light  for 
darkness.  They  put  bitter  for  sweet,  and  sweet  for 
bitter.  They  start  to  go  in  one  direction,  and  then, 
as  though  drunk  with  wine  or  paralytic,  they  swerve 
and  stagger  elsewhere.  They  are  unconscious  of  evil — 
unconscious  that  "  there  is  no  such  fault,  as  counting 
we  have  no  fault."  So  men  have  slept  in  the  snow- 
drift, and  been  found  frozen  to  death;  so  is  the 
mortification  painless,  which  puts  an  end  to  hope. 
But,  blessed  be  God,  there  is  a  voice  which  can 
arouse    and    save    men    from    such    sleep    as    this. 

Awake  thou  that  sleepest,  and  arise  from  the  dead, 
and  Christ  shall  give  thee  light." 

But  there  is  something  worse  than  apathy — anti- 
pathy.    Vice  not  only  loses  all  love  of  virtue,  but 


UNBELIEF.  107 

it  goes  on  to  hate  it ;  ashamed  openly  to  avow  its 
aversion,  for  ''hypocrisy  is  the  homage  which  vice 
pays  to  virtue,"  or  only  expressing  it  in  sneer  and 
ridicule — but  abhorring  it.  Ahab  was  not  satisfied 
in  sending  Micaiah  to  the  dungeon  to  eat  the  bread 
of  affliction ;  not  at  ease,  though  he  was  out  of  sight 
and  heariog ;  "  but  I  hate  him,"  he  said ;  "  because 
he  doth  not  prophesy  good  concerning  me,  but  evil." 
And  so,  as  the  idle  set  themselves  against  the  diligent, 
and  the  impure  against  the  chaste,  so  they  who  are 
fallen  away  from  their  faith  are  the  bitter  foes  of 
the  believer.  They  have  a  thousand  excuses  for  their 
dislike — that  he  is  affected,  and  sets  up  to  be  better 
than  his  neighbours ;  that  he  is  narrow-minded, 
bigoted,  and  superstitious ;  that  he  is  cold  and  in- 
sensible to  temptation ;  that  he  is  acting  a  part  with 
some  selfish  purpose,  to  win  the  favour  of  those  who 
are  in  authority.  But  that  which  really  provokes 
their  displeasure,  is  the  faith  which  they  have  left'; 
his  faith,  and  all  that  springs  from  it.  Like  the 
Samaritans,  who  would  not  receive  Christ  because 
His  face  was  set  as  though  He  would  go  to  Jerusalem, 
so  the  mere  worldling  and  the  sceptic  regard  with 
aversion  all  who  are  walking  upon  the  heavenward 
ways. 

Is  it  not  so?  Do  not  we  find  that  unbelief  in 
the  Author  of  all  goodness  is  followed  by  an  opposi- 
tion to  all  good  ?  The  slothful  servant  in  the  parable 
accused  his  employer  of  being  an  austere  man,  reap- 
ing where  he  had  not  sown,  and   gathering   where 


I08  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

he  had  not  strawed.  And  so  the  modern  infidel 
dares  to  impugn  the  goodness  of  his  Maker,  and 
renounces  Him  as  cruel  in  promoting  sin  and  sorrow. 
Men  do  not  only  judge  others  by  themselves,  but 
God  Himself,  as  it  is  written,  "  These  things  hast 
thou  done,  and  I  held  My  tongue,  and  thou  thoughtest 
wickedly  that  I  am  even  such  an  one  as  thyself: 
but  I  will  reprove  thee,  and  set  before  thee  the  things 
that  thou  hast  done."  So  with  our  literature;  as 
some  of  our  writers  become  unfaithful,  they  become 
impure.  They  are  not  satisfied  with  sneering  at 
religion,  but  they  would  have  us  worship  the  pomp 
and  sensuality  of  the  world,  and  see  something  to 
admire  in  the  mere  gratification  of  those  passions 
which  we  share  with  the  animals. 

They  are  opposed  to  order  and  authority ;  for  how 
should  he  who  ignores  the  Creator,  and  sets  His 
laws  at  defiance,  respect  the  edicts  of  the  creature  ? 
Who  are  they  of  whom  St.  Paul  speaks  as  boasters, 
proud,  disobedient  to  parents,  without  natural  affection, 
truce-breakers,  despisers  of  those  that  are  good, 
traitors ;  men,  he  tells  us,  "  having  a  form  of  godliness, 
but  denying  the  power  thereof "  ?  And  the  chaplain 
of  the  gaol,  and  the  superintendent  of  police,  will 
tell  you,  that  of  mankind  the  most  dangerous  and 
degraded,  are  they  who  have  lost  all  thought,  all  love, 
all  fear  of  God. 

So  with  a  nation;  as  the  righteousness  of  faith 
exalts,  so  the  evil  of  unbelief  dishonours  and  destroys. 
The  testimony  of  statesmen  is  unanimous,  that  of 


UNBELIEF.  109 

all  the  dispositions  and  habits  which  lead  to  political 
prosperity,  religion  and  morality  are  indispensable 
supports.  "  In  vain,"  says  Washington,  "  would  that 
man  claim  the  tribute  of  patriotism  who  should 
labour  to  subvert  these  pillars."  They  are  as  precious 
to  the  politician  as  to  the  man  of  piety.  A  volume 
could  not  trace  all  their  connections  with  private 
and  public  felicity.  Let  it  be  simply  asked.  Where 
is  the  security  for  property,  for  reputation,  for  life, 
if  the  sense  of  religious  obligation  deserts  the  oaths 
which  are  the  instruments  of  investigation  in  our 
courts  of  justice  ?  Nor  let  us  indulge  the  supposition 
that  morality  can  be  maintained  without  religion. 
Whatever  may  be  conceded  to  the  influence  of  refined 
education  on  minds  of  a  peculiar  structure,  reason 
and  experience  both  forbid  us  to  expect  that  morality 
can  prevail  independently  of  religious  principles. 
"  We  believe,"  writes  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbur}^ 
"  the  Christian  faith  to  be  essential  not  only  to  the 
true  expansion  of  intelligence,  but  to  the  substantial 
foundation  of  morals." 

Is  it  not  recorded  in  all  history  that  "  righteousness 
alone  exalteth  a  nation,  and  that  sin  is  a  reproach  to 
any  people  "  ? 

Those  were  noble  words  of  Cicero  to  the  Roman 
Senate:  "Let  us  never  be  misled  by  our  self-conceit 
to  suppose  that  we  have  conquered  Spain  by  our 
numbers,  nor  Gaul  by  our  strength,  nor  Carthage 
by  our  policy,  nor  the  people  of  this  land,  the 
Italians  and  the  Latines,  by  our  innate  cleverness ; 


no  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

but  by  our  piety,  by  our  religion,  and  by  that 
wisdom  which  acknowledges  that  all  things  are 
directed  and  governed  by  supreme  powers,  we  have 
overcome  the  nations  of  the  earth." 

And  so  we  find  that  in  all  the  civilized  world, 
of  the  men  to  whom  that  world  was  most  under 
obligation,  the  mighty  intellects  of  the  time,  that 
although  God  had  not  revealed  Himself  to  them  as 
to  us  in  these  latter  days  by  His  Son,  yet  were  they, 
as  a  rule,  religious  according  to  the  religion  which 
they  professed.  In  the  literature,  for  example,  of 
Greece  and  Rome,  we  read  everywhere  of  a  Supreme 
Power,  of  worship  in  temples  and  altars,  of  consecrated 
persons  and  places.  Find  what  fault  we  may  with 
their  adaptation  to  human  infiymities — adaptation  to 
mere  sentiment,  to  sensuality,  and  the  popular  wish, 
we  must  nevertheless  admire  in  these  writings  the 
awful  sense  of  an  Omnipotent  Creator,  Ruler,  and 
Judge.  We  find  in  their  books  the  admiration  of 
virtue  and  the  condemnation  of  vice,  the  benediction 
of  goodness  (as  they  saw  it)  and  the  execration  of 
evil.  In  their  grief  and  in  their  joy,  perplexity  and 
success,  defeat  and  victory,  they  came  with  their 
sacrifice  of  humiliation  or  of  thankfulness,  and 
brought  their  prayers  and  praises  to  the  Lord  of 
heaven  and  earth.  All  their  great  exploits  were 
commended,  before  they  were  begun,  to  Him.  Suppli- 
cations were  made  before  an  expedition  or  a  journey, 
for  deliverance  from  the  danger  of  land  and  sea. 
The  Greeks — Achilles  the  soldier,  Ulysses  the  king. 


UNBELIEF.  1 1 1 

Plato  the  philosopher,  Xenophon  the  historian — and 
the  Romans  also,  offered  libations  to  their  gods  before 
their  meals  and  after  them.  No  legacy  of  learning, 
no  example  of  heroism,  has  been  bequeathed  to  us 
by  the  impious  and  the  profane.  Even  the  ruins 
of  antiquity  proclaim  that,  with  the  builder  and  the 
sculptor,  the  religion  which  he  professed  was  the 
supreme  thought  that  inspired  his  work. 

Yet  more  signally  is  this  testimony  before  us, 
when  we  regard  those  later  endowments  with  which, 
since  the  Day  of  Pentecost,  intellect  and  art  and 
industry  have  enriched  the  world.  In  Europe,  in 
England,  our  Christian  faith  has  given  us  our 
universities  and  schools,  our  glorious  cathedrals  and 
churches,  our  hospitals,  charities,  and  doles.  It  has 
brought  into  our  libraries  the  plays  of  Shakespeare, 
the  poetry  of  Milton,  the  philosophy  of  Bacon,  the 
science  of  Newton.  It  has  given  to  us  the  oratorios 
of  Handel,  and  the  masses  of  Mozart.  What  great 
work  has  been  done,  what  grand  building  has  been 
raised,  what  great  book  has  been  written,  what 
famous  picture  has  been  painted,  by  an  unbeliever  ? 

And  in  this,  as  in  all  things,  history  repeats  itself. 
Just  as  the  writings  of  antiquity  and  the  monuments 
of  its  art  bear  testimony  to  religious  allegiance  and 
to  an  admiration  of  truth  and  piety,  with  earnest 
cravings  for  that  further  revelation  which  has  been 
given  to  us,  so  the  works  of  to-day,  which  are  to  be 
prominent,  will  be  achieved  by  men  who  have  been 
faithful  to  that  revelation.     It  is  not  only  that  the 


112  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

miserable  profanity  and  silliness  of  much  modern 
literature  will  be  clean  forgotten  with  their  writers, 
as  dead  men  out  of  mind,  but  those  elaborate  treatises, 
which,  professing  to  be  apologies  for  ignorance,  mani- 
festly declare  a  proud  confidence  in  superior  knowledge, 
— these  also,  with  their  authors,  fifty  years  hence  will 
be  unknown. 

The  signs  of  destruction  may  be  seen  always  in 
disunion.  Unbelievers  may  be  unanimous  in  saying, 
"There  is  no  God,  there  is  no  Christ,  there  is  no 
Holy  Spirit,  no  Church,  the  Bible  is  not  inspired, 
there  will  be  no  resurrection,  no  judgment,  no  here- 
after for  us ; "  but  when  they  begin  to  build,  where 
they  have  pulled  down,  they  are  like  the  builders 
of  Babel  in  the  confusion  of  tongues.  It  may  be 
said  of  them,  as  a  great  Roman  philosopher  once 
said  of  his  brethren,  "  Each  is  charmed  with  his 
own  theory,  but  despises  all  the  others."  Who  is  to 
make  the  plans — the  Socinian  or  the  Pantheist,  the 
materialist  or  the  agnostic  ?  Alas !  these  unbelievers 
"  have  uprooted  goodly  forests,  they  have  made 
strange  havoc  with  the  cedars  of  Lebanon  and  the 
oaks  of  Basan ;  but  they  have  planted  no  vines  nor 
fig  trees,  under  which  posterity  may  dwell  in  safety." 
They  despise  the  Church  of  the  past ;  they  make 
no  Church  in  the  present :  it  is,  as  it  has  been,  and 
will  be  always  with  them,  the  Church  of  the  future. 
"  Man  never  is,  but  always  to  be,  blest."  "  Happi- 
ness is  the  gay  to-morrow  of  the  mind,  which  never 
comes."     Ah  !  what  a  fearful  waste  there  has  been 


UNBELIEF,  1 1 3 

of  mighty  intellect  and  vigorous  life !  What  a  waste 
in  a  far-off  land  of  the  goodly  heritage  which  might 
have  been  enjoyed  so  happily  in  the  fair  ground  at 
home  !  What  a  hopeless  siege  of  that  great  city  of 
which  it  is  written,  "No  weapon  that  is  formed 
against  thee  shall  prosper,  and  every  tongue  that 
is  raised  up  in  judgment  against  thee  thou  shalt 
condemn  " !  What  raging  waves  of  the  sea,  foaming 
out  their  own  shame,  as  they  dash  themselves 
against  the  rock  of  ages !  Alas !  the  evil  they 
have  done  not  only  to  themselves  but  to  others ;  for 
it  has  been  said  but  too  truly,  that  though  they  can 
never  destroy  Christ,  yet,  like  Herod,  they  may  kill 
much  that  is  true  and  innocent  in  their  attempts  to 
do  so. 

Who  can  tell  where  this  will  "end  ?  And  meanwhile 
the  results  are  terrible.  "It  must  needs  be  that 
offences  come;  but  woe  to  him  through  whom 
the  offence  cometh !  It  were  better  for  him 
that  a  millstone  were  hanged  about  his  neck,  and 
that  he  should  be  drowned  in  the  depths  of  the 
sea,  than  that  he  should  offend  one  of  Christ's  little 
ones." 

We  are  told  in  "  the  new  Book  of  Genesis,"  written 
by  our  modern  scribes  and  the  disputers  of  this 
world,  that  "  inasmuch  as  it"  dissipates  the  dream  of 
Paradise,  and  does  away  with  the  tragedy  of  the  Fall, 
it  cancels  at  once  the  need  and  scheme  of  redemption, 
and  so  leaves  the  historical  Churches  of  Christendom 
crumbling  away  from  their  very  foundations."     So 

I 


114  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

here  there  is  an  end  of  our  responsibility  to  God 
(if  there  be  a  God),  and  our  neighbour  has  no  longer 
any  claim  upon  us.  There  is  an  end  of  worship  and 
of  prayer,  and,  except  as  matter  of  expediency,  of 
purity,  honesty,  industry,  and  temperance.  Hence- 
forth we  are  to  regard  all  our  yearnings  after  good- 
ness and  happiness,  all  our  bright  previsions  of  peace 
and  rest  and  beauty,  all  our  shameful  consciousness 
of  pretence  and  pride  and  selfishness,  all  our  detesta- 
tion of  vice]  and  our  admiration  of  virtue — ay,  the 
assured  sense  of  Christ  within  us — as  mere  imagina- 
tions. What  shall  we  say?  Why,  that  if  their 
audacious  propositions  were  not  so  perilous  to  the 
souls  of  those  who  make  them,  and^to  some  of  those 
who  hear  them,  they  were  not  only  to  be  denounced 
as  profane  and  blasphemous,  but  to  be  derided  as 
silly  and  absurd. 

God  dethroned,  and  evolution  reigning  in  His  stead 
"  The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart.  There  is  no  God  ;  " 
for  who  in  the  world  is  a  more  ignorant  and  wretched 
person  than  he  who  is  an  atheist?  "A  man  may 
better  believe  that  there  is  no  such  person  as  himself, 
and  that  he  is  not  a  being,  than  that  there  is  no  God. 
For  himself  can  cease  to  be,  and  once  was  not,  and 
shall  be  taken  from  what  he  is,  and  in  very  many 
periods  of  his  life  knows  not  that  he  is  (for  so  it  is 
with  him  every  night  he  sleeps)  ;  but  none  of  these 
things  can  happen  to  God,  and  if  he  knows  it  not  he 
is  a  fool.  Can  anything  be  more  foolish  than  to 
think  that  all  this  rare  fabric  of  heaven  and  earth 


UNBELIEF.  1 1 5 

can  come  by  chance,  whereas  all  the  skill  of  art 
cannot  make  a  single  blade  of  grass  ?  To  see  rare 
effects  and  no  cause;  an  excellent  government  and 
no  prince  ;  a  motion  without  an  immovable  ;  a  circle 
without  a  centre;  a  time  without  eternity ;  a  second 
without  a  first ;  a  thing  that  begins  not  from  itself; 
and  therefore  not  to  perceive  that  there  is  something 
from  which  it  does  begin,  which  must  be  without 
beginning; — these  things  are  so  against  philosophy 
and  natural  reason,  that  he  must  needs  be  without 
understanding  who  can  accept  them.  This  is  the 
atheist.  The  thing  framed  says  that  nothing  framed 
it.  The  tongue  never  made  itself  to  speak,  and  yet 
talks  against  Him  that  did,  and  says,  *  That  which  is 
made  is,  and  that  which  made  it  is  not.'  " 

Thus  far  I  have  attempted  to  justify  my  convictions. 
First,  that  unbelief  arises  mainly  from  these  causes, 
from  disobeying,  and  from  a  wish  to  disobey,  the 
dictates  of  conscience  and  the  revealed  will  of  God.  It 
follows,  and  is  an  apology  for,  sin.  Was  there  ever  a  sin 
without  an  excuse  ?  The  woman  said,  "  The  serpent 
beguiled  me  ;  "  and  the  man  said,  "  The  woman  Thou 
gavest  to  be  with  me,  she  gave  me  of  the  tree,  and 
I  did  eat."  And  their  son  said,  when  God  asked, 
"  Where  is  thy  brother  ? "  ''I  know  not ;  am  I  my 
brother's  keeper  ? "  "  If,"  says  Massillon,  "  men  had 
never  had  passions,  or  if  religion  had  countenanced 
them,  unbelief  would  not  have  appeared  upon  earth." 
Secondly,  unbelief  is  the  outcome  of  an  arrogant 
confidence   in   the   power  of  human   reason,   of    an 


Il6  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN, 

endeavour  of  the  finite  to  comprehend  the  infinite. 
And  it  proceeds  from,  thirdly,  a  stolid  and  im- 
patient ignorance  which  will  make  no  experiment 
nor  inquiry. 

So  TertuUian  said  to  the  heathen,  "  You  condemn 
without  trying  to  understand ;  you  blame  that  which 
you  have  never  examined ;  you  blaspheme  you  know 
not  what."  And  the  consequences  of  unbelief  are  to 
the  soul  just  what  creeping  paralysis  is  to  the  body — 
a  gradual  loss  of  vitality ;  the  spiritual  apprehensions 
are  weakened ;  the  appreciation  of  true  beauty,  purity, 
and  innocence,  the  sympathy  with  suffering,  the  idea 
of  self-sacrifice,  love,  awe,  humility,  disappear  and 
die.  The  motives  to  action  are  enfeebled  and  debased, 
and  as  water  cannot  rise  higher  than  its  spring,  he 
who  has  low  and  limited  intentions  imputes  them 
to  all  others.  He  will  tell  you  that  all  religion  is 
either  the  superstitious  fear  of  children  singing  in 
the  dark  to  dispel  or  disguise  their  silly  terror,  or  that 
it  is  only  a  sham,  assumed  like  the  phylactery  to 
attract  observation  or  to  gain  some  worldly  advan- 
tage. He  will  tell  you  that  generosity  and  courage 
and  forbearance  are  likewise  mere  ostentations,  the 
baits  of  pride  to  attract  admiration,  that  chastity  and 
sobriety  are  mere  matters  of  temperament  or  immu- 
nity from  temptation,  and  that  men  and  women  are 
virtuous  only  because  it  pays  them  better  to  be  so. 
They  would  follow  their  own  imaginations,  if  they 
dare,  and  there  was  no  risk  of  discovery.  They  would 
not  be  honest  were  it  safe  to  steal.    Who  would  trust 


UNBELIEF.  117 

such  an  accuser  of  the  brethren  ?    What  is  to  restrain 
him  from  deceiving,  cheating,  injuring  others  ? 

My  brothers,  be  not  unequally  yoked  together  with 
these  unbelievers.  If  you  would  make  friends  who 
will  be  true  to  you,  have  nothing  to  say  to  those 
who  will  never  suggest  to  you  a  noble  thought  or 
join  you  in  a  noble  deed.  Plead  with  them,  pray  for 
them,  never  make  them  your  friends,  or  you  will  but 
lean  on  a  bruised  reed,  which  will  go  into  your  hand 
and  pierce  it.  Such  a  friendship,  the  friendship  of 
this  world,  of  those  who  live  for  it,  in  it,  and  as  if 
there  were  no  other,  is  enmity  with  God.  My  younger 
brethren,  I  would  especially  entreat  you  to  make  this 
a  subject  of  earnest  prayer,  "  0  God,  choose  Thou 
for  me  my  friends."  You  should  not  only  quote  those 
familiar  words  of  Shakespeare  and  admire  them  as 
poetry,  but  you  should  make  them  your  golden  rule — 

"  The  friends  thou  hast,  and  their  adoption  tried, 
Grapple  them  to  thy  soul  with  hooks  of  steel ; 
But  do  not  dull  thy  palm  with  entertainment 
Of  each  now-hatch'd,  unfledg'd  comrade." 


VIII. 

UNBELIEF. 

III.  The  Remedies. 

"  Let  the  wicked  forsake  his  way,  and  the  unrigliteous  man  his 
thoughts  :  and  let  him  return  unto  the  Lord,  and  He  will  have  mercy 
upon  him ;  and  to  our  God,  for  He  will  abundantly  pardon." — Isaiah 
Iv.  7. 

If  this  be  so,  if  unbelief  be  the  ''daughter  of  such 
bad  causes,  the  sister  of  such  bad  adjuncts,  and  the 
mother  of  such  bad  effects;"  if  men  love  darkness 
rather  than  light  because  their  deeds  are  evil,  and 
the  god  of  this  world  hath  blinded  the  eyes  of  them 
that  believe  not ;  in  brief,  if  unbelief  is  so  inex- 
cusable, so  perilous  to  those  who,  like  the  foolish 
Galatians,  will  not  obey  the  truth,  although  before 
their  eyes  Jesus  Christ  has  been  evidently  set  forth, 
crucified  amonor  them :  and  if  our  Saviour  declares 
it  to  be  so,  "  when  the  Comforter  is  come,  He  will 
reprove  the  world  of  sin,  because  ye  believed  not 
on  Me ; "  and  again,  "  He  that  believeth  not  is  con- 
demned already,  because  he  hath  not  believed  in 
the  name  of  the  only  begotten  Son  of  God ; " — why, 
then  it  is  evident  that  we  can  no  longer  regard 
unbelief  as  a  matter  of  conscience  or  of  opinion,  but 


UNBELIEF,  119 

as  a  sin  heinous  and  abominable,  or  it  had  not 
provoked  such  a  terrible  sentence  from  the  lips  of 
infinite  love. 

Wherefore  He  warned  men,  and  we  His  messengers 
must  repeat  His  warnings,  that  when  they  wilfully 
and  obstinately  reject  that  which  God  has  revealed, 
they  become  vain  in  their  imaginations,  and  their 
foolish  heart  is  darkened;  professing  themselves  to 
be  wise,  they  become  fools,  and  change  the  truth  of 
God  into  a  lie.  Look  at  those  arrogant  Pharisees 
and  unbelieving  Jews,  who  had  agreed,  if  any  man 
did  confess  that  Jesus  was  the  Christ,  he  should  be 
put  out  of  the  synagogue  (intolerance  is  a  sure  sign 
that  there  is  no  real  love  of  truth) — see  them  brow- 
beating, hear  them  cross-examining  the  man  to  whom, 
blind  from  his  birth,  our  Lord  had  just  restored  the 
blessing  of  sight,  and  when  they  could  not  deny 
the  miracle,  listen  to  the  miserable  answer  that  they 
made  when  he  said,  on  whom  the  miracle  was 
wrought,  "  If  this  Man  were  not  of  God,  He  could  do 
nothing,"  "Thou  wast  altogether  born  in  sins,  and 
dost  thou  teach  us  ? "  and  they  cast  him  out.  Nay, 
when  He  who  had  wrought  the  miracle  spoke  to 
them  soon  afterwards  similar  words  of  warning, 
they  asked  Him  sneeringly,  "  Are  we  blind  also  ? " 
and  received  the  sorrowful  answer,  *'  If  ye  were  blind 
ye  should  have  no  sin,  but  now  ye  say  ye  see, 
therefore  your  sin  remaineth." 

There  was  One  close  to  them,  as  able,  as  He  was 
willing,  to  lead  them  from  darkness  to  light,  to  do 


120  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

that  for  their  souls  which  He  had  just  done  for  the 
eyes  of  the  blind.  The  proof  of  His  supernatural 
power  was  before  them,  and  so  was  the  perfect 
example  of  His  most  holy  life.  The  words  of  One, 
who  spoke  as  never  man,  were  sounding  in  their 
ears,  but  they  would  not  listen.  They  blind  !  They 
for  whom  all  made  way  with  admiring  look  and  low 
obeisance,  when,  with  their  proclamation  of  piety  on 
frontlet  and  phylactery,  they  occupied  the  uppermost 
room  at  feasts,  and  the  chief  seats  at  the  synagogue ; 
who  fasted  twice  in  the  week,  and  gave  tithes  of  all 
they  possessed  !  Were  they  to  humble  themselves 
like  some  little  child  who  had  done  wrong  ?  Were 
they  to  be  pupils  who  had  been  teachers,  to  exchange 
the  mastery  for  service  ?  They  would  be  blind  indeed 
to  give  up  a  position  of  authority  and  influence,  with 
which  they  were  perfectly  satisfied,  for  degradation 
and  dependence,  and  they  knew  not  what  besides. 

Is  this  uncommon  in  the  nineteenth  century  ? 
Nay,  is  it  quite  unknown  to  your  experience  and 
mine  ?  Do  we  never  say  to  young  men  now,  did 
our  elders  never  say  to  us,  "  You  are  wasting  your 
time  and  your  money,  your  intellectual  and  physical 
power,  in  seeking  happiness  where  you  never  find 
it.  You  know  that  even  in  laughter  your  heart  is 
sorrowful,  and  the  end  of  your  mirth  is  heaviness  "  ? 
And  do  we  never  hear,  did  we  never  say,  "Let  us 
alone ;  let  us  be  as  happy  as  we  can  in  our  own  way ; 
we  like  it  the  best,  and  we  believe  in  it  far  more 
than  in  yours  "  ? 


UNBELIEF.  1 2 1 

And  SO,  jusfc  in  proportion  as  we  cease  to  believe 
and  to  worship  the  true,  we  believe  and  worship  the 
false.  We  transfer,  abuse,  and  degrade  the  service 
which  we  should  have  consecrated  ;  we  set  our 
affection  upon  things  on  the  earth,  and  as  the 
prophet  says,  "  We  are  mad  upon  our  idols."  We 
ridicule  the  idea  of  worshipping  the  golden  calf; 
are  there  none  whose  thoughts  and  time  are  absorbed 
by  their  adoration  of  riches  ?  We  despise  the  ancient 
mythologies  as  silly  and  superstitious,  the  sacrifices 
that  were  offered  to  the  goddess  of  beauty  or  the 
god  of  wine ;  and  yet  how  many  thousands,  in 
Christian  England  to-day,  are  the  wretched  slaves 
of  lust  and  of  drink  ! 

Men  will  tell  you  they  cannot  help  it;  but  they 
have  brought  this  helplessness  upon  themselves. 
They  consented ;  they  were  not  constrained.  They 
yielded  again  and  again,  until  they  lost  the  power  of 
resistance — nay,  the  wish  to  resist.  A  French  noble- 
man wrote  to  Fenelon,  entreating  him  not  to  pray 
for  him,  lest  he  should  lose  the  enjoyment  of  the 
deadly  sin  in  which  he  was  living  with  his  para- 
mour. He  recognized  his  slavery,  but  he  hugged 
his  chain.  "  Let  us  alone,  that  we  may  serve  the 
Egyptians."  So  it  may  be  until  it  is  too  late  to 
change,  too  late  to  cry  for  mercy  ;  when  it  is  the  time 
for  justice. 

So  also  it  was  in  that  sad  history  of  the  Apocryphal 
Scriptures ;  when  those  two  wicked  elders  were  in- 
flamed with  lust,  "  they  perverted  their  own  mind,"  it  is 


122  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

written,  "  and  turned  away  their  eyes,  that  they  might 
not  look  unto  heaven,  nor  remember  just  judgments." 
And  so  it  may  be,  indeed,  with  a  nation  surrendering 
principles  to  policy,  and  right  to  might,  the  still  small 
voice  to  the  clamour  of  the  people,  "  There,  there,  so 
would  we  have  it " — God's  riches  to  filthy  lucre.  The 
men  of  Gadara  knew  that  the  destruction  of  the  swine 
was  a  just  punishment  of  forbidden  traffic,  unlawful 
and  unclean  ;  they  saw  that  their  Divine  Visitor  was 
as  powerful  to  do  works  of  mercy,  to  confer  pardon 
and  peace,  as  to  denounce  and  to  destroy ;  but,  if  they 
accepted  and  obeyed  Christ,  what  would  become  of 
their  lucrative  business  ?  He  would  condemn  it,  and 
their  great  profits  would  be  lost,  and  so  the  whole 
multitude  of  the  country  besought  Him  to  depart 
from  them,  for  they  were  taken  with  great  fear  ;  and 
He  went  into  the  ship,  and  returned  back  again. 
Earthly,  sensual,  devilish,  is  the  infatuation  of  sin. 
Selwyn  told  a  friend  that  he  had  seen  the  coffin  of 
Arthur  More  chained  to  that  of  his  mistress. 

But  we  may  be  quite  sure,  as  they  who  know,  not 
only  from  the  Bible  and  the  Church,  but  from  the 
light  and  the  music  which  religion  has  brought  into 
their  hearts,  that  although  this  sin  of  unbelief  has 
become  habitual,  against  many  oppositions  of  warn- 
ings and  conscience,  and  as  the  outcome  of  some  form 
of  persistent  selfishness,  whether  it  be  of  passion  or 
of  pride,  and  though  God  might  accordingly,  and  in 
strict  justice,  have  pronounced  the  sentence,  "Ephraim 
is  joined  to  his  idols ;  let  him  alone," — ^yet  in  this,  as 


UNBELIEF.  123 

in  all  things,  He  is  long-suffering,  not  willing  that 
any  should  perish ;  yea,  many  a  time  turneth  He  His 
wrath  away,  and  will  not  suffer  His  whole  displeasure 
to  arise. 

"  For  all  the  souls  that  were  were  forfeit  once ; 
And  He  who  might  the  vantage  best  have  took, 
Found  out  the  remedy." 

As  "  there  is  no  man,  to  whom  means  are  not  ad- 
ministered, sufficient  to  produce  that  measure  of  faith 
which  is  requisite  toward  the  good  management  of 
his  life,  and  his  rendering  an  account  for  it  at  God's 
tribunal;  no  man,  also,  to  whom  such  means  are 
afforded,  whom  the  grace  of  God,  who  desireth  that 
all  men  should  be  saved,  and  should  come  to  a  know- 
ledge of  the  truth,  does  not  in  some  degree  excite  to 
the  due  improvement  of  them  :  "  *  so  it  is  certain  that 
He  follows  us,  though  we  have  forsaken  Him ;  calls 
to  us,  as  to  the  Church  of  Ephesus,  when  we  have 
lost  our  first  love,  "  Remember  from  whence  thou  art 
fallen,  and  repent ; "  appeals  to  our  love  and  to  our 
fears;  takes  us  away  from  our  temptation,  and  in 
solitary  places,  and  in  sick  chambers,  and  by  the 
open  graves  in  which  our  dear  ones  lie,  or  in  the 
apprehension  of  our  own  death,  pleads  for  the  soul, 
until  the  defiled  and  unbelieving  mind  and  conscience 
are  seared,  and  there  remaineth  no  more  sacrifice 
for  sins. 

Too  late!  Is  not  the  thought,  only  the  thought, 
that  your   soul,   my   soul,  any   soul   for   which   the 

*  Isaac  Barrow,  ii.  90. 


124  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

Saviour  suffered,  might  go  out  into  eternity  in  such 
terrible  darkness  and  desertion,  reprobate  concerning 
the  faith,  in  such  a  terror  of  despair — is  it  not  enough 
to  stir  in  us  great  searchings  of  heart,  how  we  may 
strengthen  in  ourselves  and  others  the  faith  which 
alone  can  save  ? 

Will  you  not  take  this  thought  home  with  you 
to-night,  my  brothers,  and  dwell  upon  it  with  a 
godly  sorrow,  until  you  can  say,  "  What  carefulness 
it  wrought  in  us,  yea,  what  clearing  of  ourselves, 
yea,  what  indignation,  yea,  what  fear,  yea,  what 
vehement  desire,  yea,  what  zeal,  yea,  what  revenge  !  " 
Shall  we  not,  like  the  merchant  seeking  goodly 
pearls,  sell  all  that  we  have,  having  found  this  jewel 
of  great  price,  and  buy  it  ?  "  Without  faith  it  is  im- 
possible to  please  God."  "  Faith,"  says  Hooker,  "  is  the 
thing  prescribed ;  for  as  in  a  chain,  which  is  made  of 
many  links,  if  you  pull  the  first,  you  draw  the  rest ; 
and  as  in  a  ladder  of  many  staves,  if  you  take  away 
the  lowest,  all  hopes  of  ascending  into  the  highest 
will  be  removed ;  so,  because  all  the  precepts  and 
promises  in  the  Law  and  in  the  Gospel  do  hang  upon 
this  one  word  believe,  and  because  the  last  of  the 
graces  of  God  doth  follow  the  first,  that  He  glorifieth 
none  but  whom  He  hath  justified,  nor  justifieth  any 
but  whom  He  hath  called  to  a  true  and  effectual  and 
lively  faith  in  Christ  Jesus,  therefore  the  Apostle 
exhorts  us  to  build  ourselves  in  our  most  holy  faith, 
because  that  is  the  ground  and  glory  of  the  whole 
building." 


UNBELIEF,  125 

And  because,  as  in  all  diseases  of  body,  mind,  or 
soul,  prevention  is  better  and  easier  than  cure,  we 
must  protect  from  the  first  our  spiritual  health 
against  that  which  is  of  all  most  fatal,  unbelief.  We 
must  watch  and  pray  that  we  enter  not  into  tempta- 
tion. We  must  watch  the  life  of  the  soul,  which 
is  its  Faith,  as  a  mother  watches  over  her  firstborn. 
It  must  breathe  the  pure  air  of  innocence,  and  be  fed 
with  the  sincere  milk  of  the  Word.  It  must  be  kept 
from  infection,  as  you  would  fly  from  a  street  in  which 
cholera  raged,  or  in  which  there  was  not  a  house 
where  there  was  not  one  dead.  Parents  allow  their 
children  to  go  where  they  please,  see  what  they  will, 
hear  what  they  will,  send  them  forth  unwarned  and 
unarmed,  and  then  mourn  to  see  them  come  back, 
having  fallen  among  thieves,  robbed  and  wounded. 
It  is  said  they  must  know  evil ;  they  must  come  into 
the  world,  sooner  or  later — youth  must  have  its  fling. 
But  if  the  goodman  of  the  house  had  watched,  the 
robber  had  not  come  in. 

What  shall  we  say,  then,  of  those  Christian  fathers 
and  mothers  who  watch  so  carelessly,  that  if  the  robbers 
come  with  plausible  words  and  with  a  gay  disguise, 
they  themselves  open  the  door  and  admit  them  ?  What 
shall  we  say  when  the  unbeliever,  who  is  not  only 
living  without  God  in  the  world,  but  in  notorious  sin, 
is  received  into  the  Christian's  home,  because  he  is 
amusing  and  clever,  or  because  he  has  money  or 
influence,  or  lives  in  what  is  called  high  society  ?  We 
denounce  the  folly  of  that  man  who  puts  an  enemy 


126  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN, 

into  his  own  mouth  to  steal  away  his  brains;  what 
shall  we  say  of  the  father  who  brings  the  adulterer 
and  seducer,  the  spendthrift,  the  gambler,  the  drunkard, 
and,  worst  of  all,  the  atheist,  among  his  sons  and 
daughters  to  steal  away  their  souls  ? 

We  need  something  more  than  vigilance,  if  we 
would  preserve  our  faith.  Except  the  Lord  keep 
the  city,  the  watchman  waketh  but  in  vain.  There- 
fore must  we  lift  up  our  eyes  and  hearts  thither, 
whence  cometh  our  help ;  for  He  that  keepeth  Israel 
will  neither  slumber  nor  sleep.  He  will  preserve 
us  from  all  evil ;  yea,  it  is  even  He  that  shall  keep 
the  soul. 

We  must  watch  and  'pray.  They  are  inseparable, 
watchful  faith  and  prayer.  We  cannot  believe  that 
God  is  our  Father  without  going  to  Him,  as  loving 
children,  to  speak  to  Him  and  hear  His  voice.  We 
cannot  believe  in  Christ  as  our  Saviour  without 
seeking  Him  where  He  has  promised  to  be — until 
we  are  quite  sure  that  we  have  found  Him ;  that  He 
listens  to  us,  and  we  know  His  voice.  We  cannot 
believe  that  God  the  Holy  Ghost  is  our  Teacher  and 
Guide  and  Comforter  without  continually  asking  His 
instruction.  His  direction,  and  His  answer  of  peace. 

Here,  perhaps,  the  sceptic  may  say,  "You  are 
begging  the  entire  question;  you  make  a  circle  of 
your  own  and  argue  round  it.  You  take  it  for 
granted  that  what  you  have  been  taught  to  believe 
is  true.  You  refuse  inquiry,  you  ignore  reason ;  you 
have  neither  proved  the  existence  of  Him  to  whom 


UNBELIEF.  127 

you  pray,  nor  shown  proof  that  you  will  have  what 
you  pray  for.  We  want  the  evidence  of  facts,  such 
as  we  have  in  science  ;  we  want  logical,  mathematical 
proofs."  And  our  answer  is,  that  we  are  arguing  for 
a  faith  which,  while  it  is  in  complete  agreement  with 
our  reason,  so  far  as  our  reason  goes,  takes  us, 
as  it  were,  by  the  hand,  and  leads  us  onward  and 
upward,  when  reason  can  go  no  further ;  which,  when 
philosophy  says,  "  All  beyond  is  night,"  is  "  a  lantern 
unto  our  feet,  and  a  light  unto  our  paths ; "  which, 
when  science  confesses,  "  I  find  myself  in  the  presence 
of  an  eternal,  unchanging,  irresistible  power,  but 
I  know  nothing  about  it,"  says,  "  Whom  ye  ignorantly 
worship,  or  refuse  to  worship,  Him   declare  I  unto 

you." 

My  reason  is  satisfied  of  the  truth  of  Christianity 
by  its  evidences,  its  history,  its  existence,  had  there 
been  no  promises,  no  prophecies ;  by  its  full  explana- 
tion of  all  that  had  perplexed  me,  its  exact  adaptation 
to  all  my  needs,  its  power  of  transformation  in  the 
lives  of  nations  and  of  men,  its  alleviations  of  sorrow, 
its  content  in  poverty,  its  hopeful  willingness  to  die. 

But  beyond  all  this,  and  beyond  all  words,  by  that 
heavenly  presence  within,  which,  ever  since  the  Day 
of  Pentecost,  has  brought  to  Christians  such  a  testi- 
mony as  no  human  wisdom  can  teach  or  gainsay, 
that  "  the  Spirit  itself  beareth  witness  with  our  spirit 
that  we  are  the  children  of  God."  So  long  as  we 
cherish  and  obey  that  presence,  nor  anything  that 
defileth  comes  into   the   temple  in  which  it  dwells, 


128  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

we  can  answer  boldly  when  the  Apostle  asks,  "  Know 
ye  not  that  Jesus  Christ  is  in  you  ?  '*  Yea,  thanks 
be  to  God  for  His  unspeakable  gift,  we  know  it. 
And  if  every  new  discovery  of  science  seemed  to 
contradict  revelation  (I  say  seemed,  because  there 
can  be  ultimately  no  contradiction  between  God's 
Word  and  His  works);  if  the  critic  were  to  raise 
continually  new  doubts  and  difficulties ;  if  the 
Christian  were  to  meet  in  debate  and  be  defeated  in 
argument,  in  the  unanimous  judgment  of  a  public 
audience,  by  Atheist,  Deist,  Pantheist,  Materialist, 
Rationalist,  Positivist,  and  Agnostic,  that  divine 
presence  would  empower  us  to  hold  fast  the  pro- 
fession of  our  faith  without  wavering,  because  greater 
is  He  that  is  in  us  than  he  that  is  in  the  world. 

Great,  no  doubt,  are  the  troubles  of  the  righteous  : 
but  the  Lord  delivereth  him  out  of  them  all,  "  Heavi- 
ness may  endure  for  a  night,  but  joy  cometh  in  the 
morning." 

"  Summer  days 
Aud  moonlit  nights  He  led  us  on  our  path, 
Bordered  -with  pleasant  flowers ;  but  when  His  steps 
Were  on  the  mighty  ocean,  when  we  passed, 
With  trembling  feet,  through  nights  of  pain  and  loss, 
His  smile  was  sweeter  and  His  love  more  dear ; 
And  only  heaven  is  better  than  to  walk 
With  Christ  at  midnight  over  moonless  seas." 

Greater  the  troubles  of  the  unrighteous — the  first 
surrender  of  the  nobler  to  the  viler  self,  of  the 
spiritual  to  the  intellectual,  or  to  the  carnal  element. 
Then  the  contemptible  lies  and  the  lurking  in  secret 
places,  the  fear  of  discovery,  the  treacheries  by  which 


UNBELIEF,  129 

they  deceive  and  are  deceived,  the  envy  and  jealousy 
and  malice,  the  disgust  and  exhaustion  of  satiety, 
the  impotence  and  disease  of  excess;  and  none  to 
deliver. 

Who,  that  has  had  experience  of  both,  would 
exchange  the  troubles  of  the  righteous  for  the 
pleasures  of  sin  ?  That  was  no  mere  figure  of  speech 
when  David  declared,  "  I  had  rather  be  a  doorkeeper 
in  the  house  of  my  God  than  dwell  in  the  tents  of 
ungodliness,"  or  when  his  son  said,  "  Better  is  little 
with  the  fear  of  the  Lord  than  great  treasure  and 
trouble  therewith."  He  had  lost  everything  which 
this  world  prizes  most  who  was  inspired  to  declare, 
"  Godliness  with  contentment  is  great  gain."  Is 
there  any  lasting  content  without  it  ?  Strength 
saith,  "  I  have  met  a  stronger ; "  and  beauty  saith, 
"  It  will  not  stay  ; "  and  wealth  says,  "  I  cannot  buy 
happiness ; "  and  the  scholar  says,  "  I  cannot  learn 
it ; "  and  art,  "  I  find  no  model ; "  and  science  cries, 
"  Not  yet  I  not  yet ! "  Once  they  thought,  each  one 
of  them,  that  they  were  on  the  track,  and  were  sure 
to  find  it.  All  history  told  them  of  failure,  but  they 
would  not  heed.  Why  should  they  fail?  Simply 
because  they  are  seeking  happiness  where  it  is  not  to 
be  found,  because  man's  soul  is  yearning  for  that 
which  it  has  lost,  and  because  this  infinite  void  can 
only  be  filled  by  an  infinite  and  unchangeable  Object, 
that  is,  by  the  Deity  Himself.  Only  from  Him,  as  He 
has  revealed  Himself  to  us,  can  we  receive  the  answer 
to  our  inquiry,  "  Who  will  show  us  any  good  ? "     Only 

K 


130  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

from  that  pure  river  of  the  water  of  life,  clear  as 
crystal,  proceeding  out  of  the  throne  of  God,  can  we 
ever  slake  the  thirst  which  all  earthly  springs,  all 
the  rivers  of  Damascus,  have  had  no  power  to  quench. 
"  The  heart,"  said  St.  Augustine,  "  is  made  for  God, 
and  can  never  rest  till  it  rests  in  Him." 

Regard,  I  pray  you,  some  of  the  glorious  victories 
of  the  Christian  faith;  compare  them  with  the 
achievements  of  philosophy,  noble  and  sublime  as 
they  were,  where  the  search  after  truth  was  earnest, 
and  these  searchers,  not  having  the  law,  w^ere  a  law 
unto  themselves;  yet  how  dim  and  maimed  in 
contrast  with  our  Gospel  gifts !  Look  at  the  genera- 
tions of  old  and  see,  one  class  regarding  nature  as 
uncorrupted,  became  the  victims  of  pride;  another 
condemning  it  as  incurable,  of  sensuality.  If,  on  the 
one  hand,  they  possessed  some  knowledge  of  man's 
excellences,  they  were  ignorant  of  his  corruption ; 
they  might  be  raised  from  their  voluptuousness, 
but  they  fell  into  vainglory.  On  the  other  hand, 
if  they  acknowledged  the  infirmity  of  human  nature, 
they  seemed  to  have  no  sense  of  its  dignity,  and 
while  they  escaped  the  seductions  of  vanity,  they 
plunged  into  despair.  Hence  arise  the  various  sects 
of  Stoics  and  Epicureans,  of  Dogmatists  and  Acade- 
micians. 

The  Christian  religion  alone  discovered  the  remedy 
for  these  evils;  not  by  setting  the  one  against  the 
other,  by  the  wisdom  of  this  world,  but  by  over- 
throwing them  both  by  the  simplicity  of  the  Gospel, 


UNBELIEF,  13! 

which,  while  it  elevates  the  just  to  a  participation 
in  the  Divine  nature  itself,  reveals  to  them  that  in 
this  exalted  state  they  bear  yet  within  them  the 
seeds  of  corruption. 

Young  men,  regard,  I  pray  you,  the  victories,  the 
discoveries,  of  a  simple  faith  ;  of  a  worldly,  selfish 
heart  released  from  the  thoughts  which  are  miserable 
and  the  devices  which  are  uncertain,  from  the  cor- 
ruptible body  which  presses  down  the  soul,  and  the 
earthly  tabernacle  which  weighs  down  the  mind, 
and  soaring  to  the  mountain- tops,  from  whence  it 
sees,  beyond  the  wilderness  of  this  world,  the  land 
which  is  the  glory  of  all  lands,  the  faith  which  ever 
and  anon  gives  us  a  glimpse,  as  it  were,  of  heaven. 

"  As  sometimes  when  adown  tho  western  sky 

The  fiery  sunset  liugers, 
The  golden  gates  swing  inward  noiselessly, 

Unlocked  by  unseen  fingers. 
And  as  they  stand  a  moment  half  ajar, 

Gleams  from  the  inner  glory 
Stream  brightly  through  the  azured  vault  afar, 

And  half  reveal  the  story." 

What  are  the  discoveries  of  science,  my  friends, 
vast  and  wonderful  as  they  are,  compared  to  the 
discoveries  of  faith  ?  Had  it  been  told  to  our  fore- 
fathers, sixty  years  ago,  not  only  that  a  message  could 
be  sent  instantly  from  one  end  of  England  to  the 
other,  through  mountains  and  woods  and  valleys 
and  rivers,  but  that  all  the  great  events  of  the 
civilized  world,  political,  commercial,  and  military, 
would  be  circulated  in  a  few  minutes,  north,  south, 
east,   and  west, — would   not   such   prophecies    have 


132  ADDJ^ESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

seemed  to  them  as  fond  dreams  or  as  idle  tales  ? 
And  yet,  wonderful  as  all  this  may  be,  what  is  it  to 
the  sending  forth  of  universal  messages  through  time 
and  space  ?  Not  now  and  then,  to  this  man  or  that, 
but  always,  everywhere,  to  all — announcements,  com- 
mands, instructions,  persuasions,  encouragements, 
warnings,  threatenings,  now  whispered,  now  thun- 
dered in  our  ears — millions  of  messages,  millions  of 
messengers,  sent  by  the  Creator  through  all  creation, 
by  the  Saviour  to  all  who  may  be  saved,  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  the  hearts  of  regenerate  men  ! 

Science  says  to  me,  "You  have  a  friend  in  America ; 
I  have  found  out  a  way  by  which  you  may  com- 
municate with  him  at  once."  Faith  says  to  me,  "  You 
have  a  Friend  in  heaven,  a  loving  Friend,  who  ever 
liveth  to  make  intercession  for  you;  go  down  on 
your  knees,  speak  to  Him,  and  He  will  hear  you 
in  an  instant."  Science  says,  "  I  will  bring  you  in 
a  few  minutes  an  answer  from  your  friends."  Faith 
says,  "  I  will  bring  to  you  the  Friend  Himself;  "  for 
this  is  His  promise,  "  I  will  not  leave  you  comfortless, 
I  will  come  to  you."  Science  shows  to  me  the 
brilliant  electric  light,  which  almost  turns  night  to 
day.  Faith  shows  me  the  light  above  the  brightness 
of  the  sun ;  that  is  the  true  Light  which  lighteth 
every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world ;  which  shows 
me  the  way,  when  I  am  lost  in  the  darkness  of  my 
ignorance  and  sin,  and  leads  me  to  my  rest ;  which 
shines  through  the  gloom  when  I  am  drifting  on 
stormy  seas,  and  guides  me  to  the  haven  where  I 


UNBELIEF.  133 

would  be.  It  will  lighten  mine  eyes  that  I  sleep 
not  in  death;  and  in  that  light  shall  I  see  light, 
when  the  day  breaks  and  the  shadows  flee  away,  in 
that  golden  city  which  has  no  need  of  the  sun, 
neither  of  the  moon,  to  shine  in  it,  for  the  glory 
of  God  doth  lighten  it,  and  the  Lamb  is  the  Light 
thereof,  and  the  nations  of  them  that  are  saved  shall 
walk  in  the  light  thereof. 

Science  shows  me  the  admirable  discoveries  which 
have  been  made  in  our  days  for  the  relief  and  allevia- 
tion of  physical  pain,  by  the  use  of  ansesthetics,  and 
by  surgical  instruments  of  the  most  delicate  and 
skilful  construction.  "  I  remember,"  writes  a  surgeon 
of  European  fame — "  I  remember  performing  an  opera- 
tion which  only  a  few  years  ago  would  have  been 
intensely  painful,  and  attended  with  great  loss  of 
blood,  but  with  the  help  of  ether-inhalation,  and  by 
an  instrument  then  recently  invented,  it  was  abso- 
lutely painless,  and  only  a  few  drops  of  blood  were 
shed.  And  an  eminent  physician  who  was  sitting 
by  remarked  that  if  any  one  had  told  him  five  years 
ago  that  he  could  perform  such  an  operation,  without 
either  pain  or  bloodshed,  he  should  have  set  him 
down  as  insane."  But  there  is  only  One,  the  Great 
Physician  of  our  souls,  who  can  bind  up  those  that 
are  broken  in  heart,  and  give  medicine  to  heal  their 
sickness. 

"  How  small  of  all  that  human  hearts  endure, 
That  part,  which  laws  or  kings  can  cause  or  cure ! " 

There  is  only  One  who,  when  I  am  blind  and  speech- 


134  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

less  and  deaf,  the  hands  withered  and  the  feet  lame, 
when  the  whole  head  is  sick  and  the  whole  heart 
faint — there  is  only  One  who  can  restore ;  and  faith 
brings  me  to  Him,  and  I  touch  the  hem  of  His 
garment,  and  I  hear  His  sweet  loving  voice,  "Receive 
thy  sight.  Ephphatha,  be  opened.  Rise  up,  and  stand 
forth.  Stretch  forth  thine  hand.  I  will ;  be  thou 
clean.  Thy  faith  has  saved  thee ;  go,  and  sin  no 
more." 

Then  see  how  faith,  how  Christianity,  exalts, 
ennobles,  beautifies  manhood  and  womanhood.  What 
an  awful  sense  it  gives  us  of  our  dignity,  our  capacity, 
our  destination,  as  children  of  God,  members  of  Christ, 
inheritors  of  His  kingdom,  so  that  whoso  hath  this 
hope  must  seek  to  purify  himself,  even  as  He  is  pure. 
Contrast  the  man  whom  Christianity  converts;  compare 
him  "as  the  Gospel  finds  him,  with  the  man  whom 
the  Gospel  forms."  He  was  learning,  and  never  came 
unto  a  knowledge  of  the  truth.  Now  he  looks  up 
with  a  Bible  in  his  hand,  and  says,  "  Thou  art  the 
Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life." 

And  what  more  shall  I  say  ?  "  For  as  the  heaven 
is  high  above  the  earth,  so  great  is  His  mercy  to  them 
that  fear  Him."  To  the  true  believer  is  given  that 
happiness  which  is  the  purest  and  sweetest  we  can 
know  on  earth — the  happiness  of  making  others  happy; 
the  luxury  of  doing  good  for  Christ ;  doing  works  of 
mercy ;  despising  shams  and  counterfeits — the  senti- 
mental charity  (so-called)  which  listens  and  talks  and 
sighs,  but  never  goes  to  see ;  the  ostentatious  charity 


UNBELIEF.  135 

"  which,"  as  Bishop  Wilson  says,  "  is  a  greater  beggar 
than  any  it  gives  to ; "  the  niggard  meanness  which 
gives  grudgingly  and  of  necessity;  the  indiscriminate 
charity  which  will  not  trouble  itself  to  inquire,  or  has 
not  the  courage  to  refuse ; — despising  these,  and  finding 
its  sweet  reward  in  the  blessing  of  him  that  was  ready 
to  perish,  and  in  the  smile  upon  pale  sorrow's  cheek. 

Then  the  final  "victory  which  overcometh  the 
world,  even  our  faith ; "  the  love  which  endureth  unto 
the  end,  faithful  unto  death  ;  which,  or  ever  the  silver 
cord  is  loosed,  and  the  golden  bowl  is  broken,  can 
praise  God  with  the  last  breath  and  say,  "  Thanks  be 
to  Him,  who  giveth  us  the  victory  through  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ." 

Oh,  blessed  hope,  full  of  immortality,  which  whispers 
to  us  as  we  look  upon  our  dead, "  Only  for  a  while ;  we 
shall  meet  hereafter ;  not  dead,  but  sleepeth ;  thy 
brother  shall  rise  again ;  not  lost,  but  gone  before ; " — 
the  blessed  hope  which  spoke  from  that  young  faith- 
ful heart,  when  he  said  to  his  dying  brother — 

'•  And  tell  our  white-haired  father, 
That  in  the  paths  he  trod, 
The  child  he  loved  the  last  on  earth 
Still  walks  and  worships  God. 

"  Tell  him  his  last  fond  blessing  yet 
Hangs  on  my  soul  like  dew, 
And  by  its  hallowing  might  I  trust 
Once  more  his  face  to  view. 

"  And  tell  our  gentle  mother, 
That  on  her  grave  I  pour 
The  sorrows  of  my  spirit  forth. 
As  on  her  breast  of  yore. 


136  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

*'  Happy  art  thou  so  soon,  how  soon, 
Our  good  and  bright  to  see  ! 
Oh,  brother,  brother,  may  I  dwell 
Ere  long  with  them  and  thee !  '* 

Oh,  blessed  hope,  so  sure  and  certain,  which  shall 
dispel  our  fears  when  the  message  reaches  us,  "  The 
Master  is  come,  and  calleth  for  thee  "  !  By  the  side  of 
the  king  of  terrors  stands  the  King  of  life.  "  I  always 
knew,"  an  old  man  said  to  me  not  long  before  he  died, 
"  that  He  would  be  nearest  when  I  wanted  Him  most, 
and  it  is  so."  It  was  a  saying  of  old  among  the  Jews 
that  every  good  man  had  three  friends — his  possessions, 
the  love  of  his  kinsfolk  and  acquaintance,  and  his 
religion.  Suddenly  he  received  a  summons  to  answer 
accusations,  which  had  been  brought  against  him, 
before  the  king.  His  earthly  goods  were  useless ;  his 
relations  and  companions  went  with  him  to  the  palace 
door,  but  could  go  no  further ;  but  his  religion  entered 
with  him,  pleaded  for  him,  and  not  only  obtained  his 
acquittal,  but  favours  and  honours  from  the  king. 

God  help  us  to  help  each  other  !  "  Make  me  a  clean 
heart,  0  God,  and  renew  a  right  spirit  within  me ; 
.  .  .  then  shall  I  teach  Thy  ways  unto  the  wicked,  and 
sinners  shall  be  converted  unto  Thee." 


IX. 

THE  GENTLEMAN  IN  THE  LOOSE  BOX. 

Once  upon  a  time,  before  the  joy  of  the  land  was 
darkened  by  disastrous  harvests,  and  before  Sydney 
Smith's  joke  concerning  a  country  parson,  who  was 
so  parsimonious  in  the  application  of  soap,  that  "  he 
seemed  to  have  a  good  deal  of  his  glebe  on  his  own 
hands,"  became  a  very  sad  reality ; — once  upon  a 
time,  a  clergyman  kept  a  horse,  and  the  man  who 
groomed  him  discharged  a  great  variety  of  other 
duties,  including  that  of  collecting  weekly  the  alms 
of  the  congregation.  On  one  occasion  he  had  given 
up  the  plate,  and  was  going  back  to  his  place,  when 
a  sudden  recollection  caused  him  to  return  and  to 
whisper  to  his  master,  '*  If  you  please,  sir,  you  must 
let  me  have  it  again,  for  I've  forgotten  the  gentleman 
in  the  loose  box,"  indicating  with  his  thumb  an  indi- 
vidual who  monopolized  a  spacious  apartment,  lined 
and  cushioned  and  carpeted,  and  looking  like  a 
brand-new  sleeping  car,  with  one  passenger,  in  the 
middle  of  a  train  of  third-class  carriages,  filled  with 
people ! 

*'  I've  forgotten  the  gentleman  in  the  loose  box." 


138  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

With  all  my  heart  do  I  pray  and  hope  that  he  may 
soon  be  forgotten  by  us  all — clean  forgotten,  as  a 
dead  man  out  of  mind ;  and  it  will  be,  I  trust,  your 
unanimous  desire,  my  brothers,  to  give  him  notice 
to  quit,  and  to  assist  in  his  eviction.  Already  we 
have  succeeded,  in  countless  instances,  in  dislodging 
him  from  his  position,  and  he  is  flying  before  us  in 
sore  perturbation  of  spirit,  having  well-nigh  lost  pos- 
session of  his  faculties.  We  must  pursue  until  we 
have  annihilated,  even  as  Gideon  pursued  and  slew 
Zebah  and  Zalmunna,  who  said,  "  Let  us  take  unto 
ourselves  the  houses  of  God  in  possession." 

He  (I  am  regarding  this  gentleman  in  the  loose 
box  as  representing  the  Pew  System)  has  done  im- 
measurable harm  —  to  religion,  generally;  to  the 
Church  of  England,  specially;  and  to  social  sym- 
pathies and  intercourse. 

To  religion,  natural  and  revealed.  For  reason,  eye- 
sight, experience,  show  us  that  God  is  no  respecter  of 
persons.  His  great  gifts,  light,  heat,  food,  strength, 
beauty,  wisdom,  are  for  all.  There  is  no  preference 
nor  precedence.  And  Revelation  confirms  and  de- 
velops these  true  instincts.  In  the  Old  Testament  I 
read  a  great  deal  about  the  construction  of  the  Taber- 
nacle, when  God  pitched  His  tent  among  men ;  of  the 
pure  gold,  which  was  to  be  used  for  the  Ark  and  the 
Mercy-seat ;  of  the  Altar  and  its  vessels ;  of  the  pillars 
round  about  the  court,  filleted  with  silver;  of  the 
curtain  of  fine  twined  linen,  blue  and  purple  and 
scarlet;    of  the  pure  oil  olive,  beaten  for  the  light, 


THE  GENTLEMAN  IN  THE  LOOSE  BOX.       I  39 

to  make  the  lamp  to  burn  always.  I  read  of  men 
specially  consecrated  to  conduct  the  services,  but  I 
don't  read  of  any  members  of  the  congregation  being 
admitted  to  special  places  and  privileges  on  payment 
of  money.  The  Tabernacle  was  made,  the  priests 
were  maintained,  the  expenses  were  paid,  by  volun- 
tary contributions,  by  offertories.  The  rich  brought 
their  offerings,  and  the  poor  brought  their  offerings, 
and  God  accepted  them,  not  according  to  the  market 
value,  but  according  to  the  faith  and  love  of  the 
giver.  He  only,  who  knows  the  motive  and  how 
much  men  keep  back  as  well  as  how  much  they  give, 
can  appraise  the  offering. 

There  is  an  instructive  incident  in  the  life  of  the 
good  Bishop  Selwyn.  Before  the  consecration  of  a 
church  in  Auckland,  a  discussion  arose  as  to  the 
allotment  of  seats.  A  man,  who  had  given  a  large 
sum,  suggested  that  those  who  had  given  most  should 
have  the  first  selection.  To  the  surprise  of  all,  the 
bishop  seemed  to  assent  to  this  suggestion ;  "  but,"  he 
inquired,  "  how  are  we  to  find  this  out  ? "  "  Oh,"  said 
the  donor  who  had  made  the  proposition,  "there  can 
be  no  difficulty  in  that  respect — here  is  the  list  of 
subscriptions."  "  Very  true,"  said  the  bishop ;  "  but 
this  does  not  tell  us  who  has  given  most,  for  we  have 
read,  you  know,  of  a  certain  poor  widow,  who  only 
gave  two  mites,  and  yet  the  Highest  Authority 
informs  us  that  she  gave  more  than  they  all." 

There  were  no  pews  in  the  Temple,  or  that  proud 
Pharisee  would  have  had  a  grand  pagoda,  from  which, 


UNIVERSITY 


I40  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN, 

under  the  pretence  of  prayer,  he  might  have  made  an 
oration  upon  his  own  merits,  and  have  looked  with 
disdain  upon  the  publican,  standing  afar  off  in  the 
corner,  and  despising  himself,  while  God's  angels  were 
shouting  for  joy,  "  Saved  !  saved  ! " 

You  know  how  our  Divine  Master  denounced  this 
craving  for  precedence,  this  self-exaltation,  which 
seemed  to  say,  "Stand  by,  I  am  better  than  thou," 
and  bade  His  disciples,  again  and  again,  to  beware  of 
the  leaven  of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  who  loved  to 
occupy  the  chief  seats  in  the  synagogues.  "  Learn  of 
Me,"  He  said,  "for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart." 
And  when  they  came  unto  Him,  saying,  "  Who  is  the 
greatest  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ? "  He  called  a  little 
child  unto  Him  and  set  him  in  their  midst,  and  said, 
"  Verily  I  say  unto  you.  Whosoever  shall  humble  him- 
self as  this  little  child,  the  same  is  greatest  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven." 

And  may  we  not  be  sure  of  this,  that  if  His  sweet 
gentle  spirit  was  so  moved  with  indignation  when  He 
found  in  the  Temple  those  that  sold  oxen  and  sheep 
and  doves,  and  the  changers  of  money  sitting  (though 
it  might  not  have  seemed  a  great  sin  to  sell  in  the 
Temple  that  which  was  to  be  offered  in  the  Temple), 
that  He  drave  them  out  and  forbade  them  to  make 
His  Father's  House  a  house  of  merchandise,  much  more 
would  He  have  denounced  the  buying  and  selling, 
in  allotments,  of  the  Holy  Place  of  the  Most  High 
itself;  and  that  He,  who  declared  that  His  House 
should  be  called  the  House  of  Prayer  for  all  people, 


THE  GENTLEMAN  IN  THE  LOOSE  BOX.       14I 

would  indeed  have  been  troubled  in  spirit  to  see  it  not 
so  much  a  House  of  Prayer  but  of  preaching,  and  this 
to  those  only  who  had  paid  for  sittings  ?  What  would 
He  have  said  of  sales  by  public  auction,  not  un- 
common in  America,  and,  alas !  not  unknown  in 
England,  of  the  best  pews  to  the  highest  bidder  ? 
Search  the  Scriptures,  and  then  tell  me  how  shall 
a  man  who  preaches  to  those  only  who  have  paid 
to  hear  him — how  shall  he  declare  to  them  the  whole 
counsel  of  God  ?  "  Ho,  every  one  that  thirsteth, 
come  ye  to  the  waters,  and  he  that  hath  no  money ; 
come  ye, .  buy,  and  eat ;  yea,  come,  buy  wine  and 
milk  without  money  and  without  price."  How  shall 
he  pass  on  to  the  New  Testament,  and  preach  from 
such  verses  as  these :  "  Go  and  show  John "  that  he 
may  be  assured  that  I  am  He,  the  promised  Saviour ; 
that  "  the  poor  have  the  Gospel  preached  to  them  "  ? 
How  shall  he  stand  at  the  lectern,  and  read  to  you 
working  men  the  words  which  St.  James  was  inspired 
to  speak :  "  My  brethren,  have  not  the  faith  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Lord  of  glory,  with  respect  of 
persons.  For  if  there  come  unto  your  assembly  a 
man  with  a  gold  ring,  in  goodly  apparel,  and  there 
come  in  also  a  poor  man  in  vile  raiment;  and  ye 
have  respect  unto  him  that  weareth  the  gay  clothing, 
and  say  unto  him.  Sit  thou  here  in  a  good  place ;  and 
say  to  the  poor.  Stand  thou  there,  or  sit  here  under 
my  footstool :  are  ye  not  then  partial  in  yourselves, 
and  are  become  judges  of  evil  thoughts  "  ? 

There  is  no  element  of  exclusion  in  the  religion  of 


142  ADDRESSES  TO   WOR ICING  MEN. 

Christ.  Under  the  Old  Covenant,  men  were  warned 
not  to  "  limit  the  Holy  One  of  Israel ; "  and  by  the 
Divine  Example,  and  all  the  precepts  of  the  New,  we 
are  forbidden  to  make  His  love  too  narrow,  with 
false  limits  of  our  own,  not  to  magnify  His  strictness 
with  a  zeal  He  will  not  own. 

Exclusion  !  There  was  none  so  vile,  none  so  poor, 
none  so  degraded,  but  the  Master  loved  him.  He 
never  turned  from  the  sightless  eyeballs,  the  foul 
sores  of  the  leper,  the  raving  of  the  lunatic.  He  did 
not  draw  His  long  robe  around  Him,  and  hurry  on 
with  dignified  contempt,  when  He  met  the  harlot  in 
the  streets  ;  but  when  He  was  risen  He  appeared  first 
to  Mary  Magdalen,  out  of  whom  He  had  cast  seven 
devils.  He  came  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was 
lost ;  and  all  were  lost — 

"  For  all  the  souls  that  were  were  forfeit  once  ; 
And  He  who  might  the  vantage  best  have  took, 
Found  out  the  remedy." 

And  still  that  gentle  Voice,  which  spake  as  never 
man  spake,  is  whispering  to  all,  '*  weary  of  earth  and 
laden  with  their  sins  :  "  "  Come  unto  Me,  all  ye  that 
labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest." 
Exclusion !  St.  Paul  seems  to  condense  the  essence 
of  Christianity  into  two  little  words,  "  Not  I."  Not 
I,  because  the  Spirit  of  Christ  has  shown  me  myself — 
how  much  there  is  to  distrust  and  despise !  "  For 
I  know  that  in  me  (that  is,  in  my  flesh)  dwelleth 
no  good  thing :  for  to  will  is  present  with  me ;  but 
how  to  perform  that  which  is  good  I  find  not.     For 


imE  GENTLEMAN  IN  THE  LOOSE  BOX,       I43 

the  good  that  I  would  I  do  not :  but  the  evil  which 
I  would  not,  that  I  do."  "Not  I,"  because  I  have 
received  this  command  from  Heaven :  "  Let  each 
esteem  other  better  than  himself,  in  honour  preferring 
one  another,"  because  every  one  of  us,  who  searches 
his  own  heart,  knows  more  evil  of  himself  than  of 
his  neighbour,  and  because  none  of  us  can  say  of  the 
worst  whom  we  know,  "  Had  I  been  in  his  circum- 
stances I  should  have  been  a  better  man  than  he." 
And  what  grand  words  those  are  which  came  from 
the  loving  Christ-like  heart  of  the  Apostle,  when,  in 
the  hour  of  his  victory,  when  he  had  fought  the  good 
fight  of  faith,  when  perfect  love  had  at  last  cast  out 
fear,  and  he  could  say,  "  Henceforth  there  is  laid  up 
for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the 
righteous  Judge,  shall  give  me  at  that  day  ;7*  what 
beautiful  brotherly  words  those  were  which  he  added, 
"  and  not  to  me  only,  but  unto  all  them  also  that 
love  His  appearing  "  I  Yes,  that  is  Christianity  ;  not 
anxious  about  ourselves  only,  wondering  "  shall  I  be 
saved  ? "  and  satisfied  with  the  hope  ;  much  less  speak- 
ing great  swelling  words  of  vanity  as  to  our  assured 
salvation,  but  rejoicing  to  think  that  not  only  for 
ourselves,  for  those  nearest  and  dearest  to  us,  but 
for  all,  there  is  the  same  possibility  and  promise — 

"  There  is  plentiful  redemption 

In  the  Blood  that  has  been  shed, 
There  is  joy  for  all  the  members 
In  the  sorrows  of  the  Head." 

Without   Christianity,  men's   lives,  be   their  pro- 
fessions, their  refinements,  and  amenities  what  they 


144  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

may,  can  be  but  selfishness.  The  man  who  lives  for 
money,  or  power,  or  pleasure,  has  for  his  motto  "  Me 
only."  He  does  not  say  it,  but  he  lives  it.  "Let 
him  take  who  has  the  power,  and  let  him  keep  who 
can."  He  pays  his  rates  and  taxes  (or  the  law  would 
make  him),  and  as  for  the  rest — "Me  only."  And 
in  those  churches  from  which  the  poor  are  excluded, 
because  they  cannot  pay  for  a  place,  might  not  these 
words  be  painted  on  the  door  of  every  pew,  "  Me  only  "  ? 

Incalculable  harm  has  been  done  to  the  Church  of 
England  by  the  gentleman  in  the  loose  box.  There 
was  a  time  when  we  were  satisfied,  or  pretty  nearly 
satisfied,  with  one  form  of  Christianity  in  this  land. 
I  suppose  that  now  we  have  got  over  two  hundred. 
There  are  even  families  of  which  the  members  cannot 
make  up  their  minds  to  go  to  the  same  place  of 
worship.  One  prefers  Church,  the  other  Chapel — one 
sister  is  High,  and  another  is  Low,  or  Broad ;  and 
that  impudent  young  brother,  only  too  glad  of  an 
excuse  for  evading  his  duty,  takes  out  his  pipe  and 
his  Sporting  Times,  and  says,  "  When  you've  settled 
it  among  yourselves,  which  of  your  religions  is  best, 
you  can  call  again  upon  yours  truly !  " 

But,  in  all  solemn  earnest,  it  is  sad  to  see  this  dis- 
union among  the  disciples  of  a  Master  who  prayed,  and 
is  praying,  that  we  might  all  be  one.  Whatever  may 
be  the  advantages  of  criticism,  and  debates,  and  freedom 
of  opinion,  we  must  all  feel  in  our  hearts  "  how  good 
and  joyful  a  thing  it  is,  brethren,  to  dwell  together 
in  unity;"  and   I  am  fully  persuaded,  in  my  own 


^HE   GENTLEMAN  IN  THE  LOOSE  BOX.        1 45 

mind,  that  one  main  cause  of  our  unhappy  divisions 
has  been  the  Pew  System,  and  that  we  cannot  expect 
that  God,  who  maketh  men  to  be  of  one  mind  in 
a  house,  will  grant  us  reconciliation  and  reunion, 
until  that  house  is  free  and  open  to  all  His  people. 

When  the  Pew  System  was  developed,  it  was  easy 
to  see  that  the  weak  must  go  to  the  wall,  to  the 
door,  and  out  of  it.  That  fact  alone  would  always 
keep  me  from  uttering  bitter  words  in  disparagement 
of  the  Nonconformists — the  conviction  that  they 
would  never  have  emigrated  had  they  been  kindly 
treated  at  home ;  and  there  can  hardly  be  any  greater 
unkindness  in  parents  than  to  regard  with  a  chill 
indifference  the  weakly  ones,  who  most  need  their 
care  and  protection.  To  be  neglected  by  those  from 
whom  you  have  a  right  to  expect  support  and 
sympathy  is  indeed  an  intolerable  justice,  and  if 
men  are  repelled  where  they  expect  a  welcome,  they 
do  not  repeat  the  visit.*  The  results  have  been 
deplorable  indeed.  Hardly  a  week  passes  that,  as  a 
known  advocate  of  freedom  of  worship,  I  do  not 
receive  a  pressing  appeal  from  some  brother,  "  Come 
over  and  help  me  to  do  battle  against  the  Pew 
System."  Let  me  quote  from  one  of  these  letters, 
written  by  the   vicar   of  the  principal  church  in  a 

♦  "Nothing  is  so  hard  to  bear  as  injustice,  and  those  who  are 
excluded— as  by  this  system  the  great  majority  must  be — feel  that 
they  are  treated  with  unfairness,  though  they  do  not  speak  out,  and 
that  feeling  tends  to  alienate  them  from  the  Church  and  from  her 
ministers."— Sermon  by  the  Bishop  of  Chichester,  "The  House  of 
God  the  Home  and  Portion  of  His  People  "  (1883). 


146  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

large  city  :  "  My  church,  like  most  of  the  forty  city 

churches,  was  originally  served  by  monks,  and  was 

left  at  the  Reformation  without  any  endowment.     To 

provide  funds,  seat-payments  have  long  been  adopted  ; 

and  as  the  church  is  a  grand  one,  we  pay  our  way. 

But  of  our  population  of  two  thousand,  half,  being 

poor,  have  been   turned  away.     There  is  not   even 

a  fair  proportion  of  free  seats.     The  working  people, 

if  they  wish  to  attend,  are  placed  in  the  unlet  seats 

(the  worst),  and  the  natural   result  is  they  do  not 

attend.     The   Church   in   my  parish,  and   I   believe 

throughout  the  city,  is  not  popular  among  the  masses 

— not  loved,  scarcely  even  respected — and  one  cannot 

wonder  at  it.     I  am  certain  that  mission-work  is  not 

hopeless  here,  but  I  quite   see   that  hard  work  has 

to  be  done,  if  we  are  to  recover  what  we  have  lost." 

I  confidently  look  forward  to  such  a  recovery,  and 

one  main  source  and  stay  of  my  confidence  is  this, 

that  all  unprejudiced  persons,  all  who  care  to  ascertain 

facts  for  themselves,  may  readily  be  convinced  that 

the  Church  of  England,  however  she  may  have  been 

misrepresented   by   some   of  her   officers,  is   utterly 

opposed  in  all  her  laws  and  principles  to  partiality 

or   exclusion.     Like   the   God    whom   she   worships, 

"  she  is  no  respecter  of  persons."     From  the  beginning 

to   the   end   of  her  Prayer-book,  in  all  her  rubrics, 

canons,    and    articles,    there    is    no    recognition    of 

superiority  of  one  over  another  of  her  children.     She 

speaks   of  the   Queen   of  England  as  "this  woman. 

Thy  servant."     She  receives   the  child   of  the    peer 


THE   GENTLEMAN  IN  THE  LOOSE  BOX.        1 47 

and  of  the  peasant  with  the  same  service,  and  teaches 
them  the  same  lessons  from  Baptism  to  Burial. 

"  Our  mother  the  Church  hath  never  a  son 

To  honour  before  the  rest ; 
But  she  singeth  the  same  for  mighty  kings 

And  the  veriest  babe  at  her  breast. 
And  the  bishop  goes  down  to  his  narrow  bed 

As  the  ploughman's  child  is  laid ; 
And  alike  she  blesses  the  dark-brow'd  serf, 

And  the  chief  in  his  robe  arrayed." 

And  if  this  principle  of  equality  were  enforced  by 
the  Church,  how  it  might  add  to  our  temporal  as  to 
our  eternal  happiness,  by  bringing  together  those 
classes  who  are  more  or  less  disaffected,  jealous, 
suspicious,  towards  each  another  ! 

We  are  surrounded  in  these  days  by  Societies, 
Fraternities,  Orders,  Unions,  Leagues,  and  the  like  ; 
and  I  believe  that  they  are  capable,  under  wise 
administration,  of  conferring  great  benefits.  I  have 
been  a  Mason  for  half  a  century  ;  I  have  the  highest 
regard  for  the  Odd  Fellows'  Lodges  and  other  benefit 
societies ;  I  think  that  Trades  Unions  have  wise  and 
righteous  intentions ;  but  I  am  quite  sure  that  the 
only  society  which  can  secure  for  us  a  true  and 
lasting  brotherhood,  which  will  repay  all  our  invest- 
ments a  thousandfold,  is  the  society  which  was 
formed  by  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  nigh  upon  nineteen 
hundred  years  ago,  and  of  which  the  first  great 
officers  were  ordinary  working  men.  It  is  a  society 
which  has  no  ballot  for  members  and  no  entrance  fee. 
To  all  it  is  Free  and  Open ! 

The   world  has   a   great   deal  to  say  to  us  about 


148  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

Liberty,  Fraternity,  and  Equality;  but  there  is  a 
deal  of  electro-plate  and  sham  and  shoddy  in  the 
articles  so  designated.  The  plating  soon  wears  off, 
and,  lo !  there  is  nothing  but  dingy  pewter  beneath. 
The  indelible  family  marking-ink  and  the  warranted 
fast  colours  disappear  in  the  second  wash  !  What 
liberty  has  the  man  who  is  the  slave  of  his  temper 
or  of  his  lust — who  is  always  wondering  what  will 
folks  say,  and  is  miserable  if  they  don't  think  as  he 
thinks  ? 

Liberty !  It  means  a  conscience  void  of  offence 
toward  God  and  man.  It  means  the  glorious  liberty 
wherewith  Christ  hath  made  us  free  from  the  bondage 
of  sin  and  doubt,  and  from  the  fear  of  death. 

Fraternity  !  The  schemes  of  mere  human  wisdom 
for  an  eternal  armistice  and  an  universal  peace — have 
they  saved  us  a  bandage  or  a  bit  of  diachylon  ? 
Have  they  stopped  the  firing  of  a  single  shell  ?  And 
the  professions  of  brotherhood,  the  vows  of  eternal 
friendship  which  we  make  with  those  who  can 
minister  to  our  pleasure  or  our  purse — how  long  do 
they  last  ?  What  becomes  of  him,  who  is  "  a  jolly 
good  fellow,  which  nobody  can  deny,"  when  the  feast 
is  over,  and  sickness  or  sorrow  comes  ?  Ah,  me  !  when 
we  want  to  borrow,  how  brotherly  we  are  to  those 
that  can  lend !  when  we  desire  a  holiday,  how 
amiably  disposed  we  feel  to  those  who  can  do  our 
work  or  kindly  take  care  of  the  baby  !  and  how  fond 
we  are,  when  we  would  take  a  journey,  of  the  man 
who  has  a  horse  and  trap !     What  I  mean  is  this  : 


THE  GENTLEMAN  IN  THE  LOOSE  BOX,       1 49 

that  in  all  associations  and  amities,  of  the  earth 
earthy,  there  will  be  selfishness  as  a  chief  motive 
(why  not  ?)  ;  there  will  be  uncertainty,  change,  dis- 
appointment,^ failure,  and,  finally,  as  with  all  things 
human,  decay,  and  then  dissolution. 

Then  as  to  Equality.  I  don't  believe  in  a 
communism  of  property,  though  the  first  Christians 
were  compelled  to  adopt  it,  because  it  is  simply 
impossible.  If  we  all  started  with  exactly  the  same 
amount  of  land  or  goods  to-morrow,  in  a  few  months 
Luke  Sharp  or  Will  Strong  would  have  purchased 
or  seized  upon  Tom  Noddy's  garden;  and  Lazy 
Jack,  and  Gambling  Joe,  and  Thirsty  Dick  would 
be  borrowing  from  Frugal  Jim.  But  in  spiritual 
possessions  there  is,  and  must  be,  equality.  Chris- 
tianity, like  the  light,  like  the  air,  like  the  magnifi- 
cence and  beauty  of  Creation,  is  for  all  alike ;  and 
where  should  this  be  taught  as  a  law,  and  exhibited 
as  a  practice,  so  unreservedly  as  in  our  Father's 
House,  where  we  have  all  been  Baptized  by  One 
Spirit  into  one  Body,  and  where  there  is  no  difierence, 
for  all  have  sinned,  but  the  same  Lord,  rich  unto  all 
that  call  upon  Him  ? 

Now  as  to  the  objections.  The  strangest  and  the 
silliest  seems  to  me  to  be  this,  that  we  shall  have 
disorderly  crowds  struggling  for  places.  This  sounds 
to  me  very  much  as  if  some  market  gardener  were 
to  say,  "  If  I  let  more  light  and  air  into  my  orchard, 
I  shall  have  such  a  crop  of  apples  that  I  shan't  know 
what  to  do  with  them."     Disorclerly  crowds  !     I 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


150  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN, 

seen  the  crowds,  thank  God,  again  and  again,  but  I 
never  saw  them  disorderly ;  and  if  they  were  a  little 
over-anxious,  I  should  still  regard  a  multitude  of  my 
brothers  and  sisters  assembling  for  worship  as  one 
of  the  happiest,  most  impressive  spectacles  which 
human  eye  can  see!  Then  some  say,  "You  don't 
know  who  will  be  your  nearest  neighbour;  it  may 
be  some  one  unpleasant  and  unclean."  Keally  some 
of  these  people  who  cry,  "  Come  not  between  the 
wind  and  my  nobility,"  seem  to  imagine  that  working 
men  can't  be  happy  without  a  certain  amount  of  tar, 
oil,  coal-dust,  or  lamp-black — that  they  never  saw  a 
towel,  and  don't  believe  in  a  pump !  I  should  like 
to  take  them  to  certain  churches,  in  which  I  could 
show  them  hundreds  of  working  men,  as  well  washed, 
brushed,  and  dressed  (though  not  so  expensively)  as 
themselves,  quite  as  considerate  and  courteous  to 
each  other,  and  quite  as  devout  and  reverent  in  the 
worship  of  their  God.  Then  it  is  asked,  "  Why  dis- 
turb existing  arrangements,  which  have  continued 
so  long  and  so  peacefully  ? "  *'  Allow  me  to  inform 
you,"  it  has  been  said,  "that  everybody  appears  to 
be  satisfied.  The  people  pay  their  pew-rents  cheer- 
fully, and  there  are  more  candidates  for  sittings  than 
there  are  sittings  to  let.  Why  alter  that  which  all 
approve  ?  "  "  Might  I  suggest,"  I  answer,  "  that 
tranquillity  sometimes  indicates  mortification,  and 
that  the  bright  green  surface  of  a  stagnant  pool 
hides  ugly  things  below  ?  The  question  is,  not  what 
best  pleases  you  and  your  richer  folks,  but  whether 


THE   GENTLEMAN  IN  THE  LOOSE  BOX.       15I 

you  are  doing  your  Master's  work  as  He  would  have 
you  do  it  ? " 

"  There  is  no  other  way,"  it  is  sometimes  aflSrmed, 
*'  of  maintaining  a  ministry  and  paying  the  expenses 
of  a  church."  But  this  can  only  mean  that  no  other 
method  has  been  tried,  for  there  is  another  way,  and 
it  is  the  way  of  the  Bible,  and  it  is  the  way  of  the 
Church,  namely,  that,  on  the  first  day  of  the  week, 
every  one  of  us  should  lay  by  us  in  store,  as  God 
has  prospered  us — our  alms  in  the  Offertory.  I  have 
not  heard  of  an  instance  in  which  such  a  change  has 
failed.  Many  years  ago  I  tried  it  with  regard  to 
church-rates,  and  whereas,  under  the  compulsory 
system,  we  hardly  raised  £30  per  annum,  under  the 
voluntary  we  contributed  thrice  that  amount;  and 
I  don't  believe  there  was  a  poor  man  in  the  congre- 
gation who  did  not  give  cheerfully  and  generously 
according  to  his  means.  But  here  again  the  question 
is,  not  what  will  pay  the  best,  but  what  is  right  or 
wrong.  And  let  me  add  that  this  Pew  System  does 
not  prove  to  be  a  commercial,  a  pecuniary  success. 
It  has  been  nowhere  tried  so  extensively  as  in 
America,  and  Mr.  Talmage,  an  American  preacher, 
gives  us  this  report  of  the  results.  "  Some  speak," 
he  says,  "as  though  the  present  mode,  the  buying 
and  selling  of  pews,  were  a  success.  Far  from  it. 
Three-fourths  of  the  churches  of  Christ  in  this  land 
are  in  debt,  and  in  three-fourths  of  them  the  income 
does  not  equal  the  outgo ;  and  at  the  end  of  the  year 
a  few  generous  men  have  to  come  together  and  make 


152  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

up  the  deficit,  or  some  general  efibrt  is  made  on  the 
part  of  the  congregation  to  regulate  the  indebted- 
ness." 

And  now  we  come  to  the  question,  How  shall  this 
righteous  claim  of  every  parishioner  to  a  seat  in  his 
parish  church  be  asserted,  and  how  the  restoration 
be  made  ?  We  must  not  put  a  stumbling-block  in  a 
brother's  way  as  that  man  did,  who,  going  into  a 
church  monopolized  by  pew-holders,  walked  up  and 
down  the  central  aisle,  without  an  invitation  to  enter 
(though  there  were  plenty  of  vacant  places,  but  the 
proprietors  were  absorbed  in  their  devotions  at  the 
moment  when  he  passed),  and  then,  leaving  the  edifice, 
shortly  reappeared  with  a  borrowed  chair,  and,  placing 
it  just  in  front  of  the  pulpit,  remained  there  during 
the  service,  the  most  distinguished  member  of  the 
congregation.  A  more  suggestive  and  feasible  protest 
was  made  in  my  own  immediate  neighbourhood,  and 
by  one  of  my  friends.  During  some  alterations  in 
the  chancel,  which  usually  suflaced  for  the  worshippers, 
the  church  being  a  very  large  one  (in  fact,  it  is  now 
a  cathedral),  chairs  were  placed  in  the  nave,  which 
was  declared  to  be  free  and  open.  Very  soon  the 
spirit  of  the  pew  system  which  had  prevailed  in 
the  chancel  began  to  show  itself  outside.  Some 
of  the  common  chairs  in  the  best  places  for  hearing 
and  seeing  disappeared,  and  were  replaced  by  com- 
fortable seats  w^ith  arms  and  cushions.  My  friend, 
who  thinks  w^ith  you  and  me  that  "  all  equal  are 
within  the   Church's  gate,"   resolved   to   resist   this 


THE   GENTLEMAN  IN  THE  LOOSE  BOX.       I  53 

selfishness,  so  he  and  his  family,  and  a  few  congenial 
friends,  went  early  to  the  services  and  preoccupied 
these  seats  made  easy.  The  owners  came,  stared, 
looked  silly — for  "  conscience  doth  make  cowards  of  us 
all " — and  after  a  time  the  armchairs  disappeared.  My 
brothers,  this  principle,  being  right  and  just,  might 
be  carried  out  to  a  much  more  extensive  and  remark- 
able demonstration.  Every  parishioner  might  occupy 
a  place  in  his  parish  church — even  in  the  "  loose 
box" — but  this  movement  might  lead  to  collision, 
and  we,  as  Christians,  having  as  much  as  lieth  in 
us  to  live  peaceably  with  all  men,  are  fighting  our 
battle  with  weapons  far  more  powerful  in  the  end 
than  physical  or  even  pecuniary  power,  for  "  thrice 
is  he  armed  that  hath  his  quarrel  just."  We  believe 
that  our  cause  has  Divine  approbation,  and  so, 

"  If  angels  figlit, 
Weak  men  must  fall ;  for  Heaven  defends  the  right." 

Now  bear  with  me,  I  pray  you,  while,  in  con- 
clusion, I  notice  one  more  criticism  which  has  been 
expressed  upon  our  enterprise  by  those  who  doubt 
its  success.  "  If,"  it  has  been  said,  "  by  making  the 
churches  free  and  open,  you  expect  at  once  to  fill 
them  with  working  men,  you  are  very  much  mistaken 
indeed.  We  can  tell  you  of  several  instances  in  which 
the  Pew  System  has  been  abolished  without  increasing 
the  number  of  the  worshippers."  I  will  not  dwell, 
in  reply,  upon  the  fact  that  the  neglect  of  a  century 
is  not  to  be  repaired  in  a  twelvemonth,  and  that 
those  who  have  been  first  starved,  and  then  turned 


154  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEM. 

out-of-doors,  are  inclined  to  doubt  offers  of  hospitality ; 
but  I  will  at  once  declare  that  we  do  not  place  our 
entire  dependence  upon  free  and  open  churches  for 
the  reunion  of  the  classes  in  public  worship,  although 
we  believe  them  to  be  a  primary  and  inseparable 
preparation.  We  are  not  quite  so  sanguine  as  to 
suppose  that  a  public  dining-room  would  be  much 
used  by  working  people,  in  which,  though  it  was 
always  free  and  open,  the  food  was  only  available 
when  they  were  most  busy  at  their  work,  or  if  it 
were  badly  cooked,  or  a  little  too  high,  or  a  little 
too  tough  for  due  mastication,  and  therefore  very 
difficult  inwardly  to  digest.  What  is  this  but  the 
stork  asking  the  fox  to  dine  from  a  tall  vase  which 
he  couldn't  reach,  and  the  fox  returning  the  compli- 
ment with  a  large  shallow  dish  of  soup  ?  We  must 
not  only  have  churches  free  and  open  for  working 
men,  and  all  men,  but  services  at  such  times  as  shall 
suit  the  convenience  of  all ;  and  not  only  such  services 
as  those  we  have  now  in  our  ancient  and  beautiful 
Liturgies,  which  I  trust  will  ever  be  appreciated  by 
those  who  have  long  loved  and  understood  them,  but 
such  other  services  as  every  one  who  uses  may 
follow  and  join  in  at  once — clear  and  impressive 
prayers,  such  as  all  can  pray,  and  hymns  which 
compel  a  man  to  sing. 

Then  as  to  sermons.  Well,  with  all  regard  and 
respect  for  my  reverend  brothers,  I  do  think  that 
sermons  might,  as  a  rule,  be  a  little  more  interesting. 
I  blame  chiefly  the  entire  absence  at  our  Universities 


THE  GENTLEMAN  IN  THE  LOOSE  BOX.        1 55 

of  any  school  of  elocution — any  endeavour  to  teach 
the  art  of  preaching — but  I  am  convinced,  at  the 
same  time,  that  much  more  might  be  done  by  the 
preachers  themselves.  I  have  been  told  that  a  man, 
said  to  be  of  unsound  mind,  attends  a  church  in  one 
of  our  great  cities,  and  that  when  the  curate,  who 
preaches  briefly  and  impressively,  is  in  the  pulpit, 
he  listens  with  unflagging  attention ;  but  when  the 
vicar  begins  to  read  a  long  and  dreary  discourse,  he 
takes  oS*  his  boots  and  puts  them  outside  the  pew, 
to  intimate  that  he  is  probably  there  for  the  night, 
and  wishes  to  have  them  cleaned. 

"  If  he  be  mad,  as  I  believe  he  is, 
His  madness  hath  the  oddest  frame  of  sense," 

as  Polonius  says  of  Hamlet,  "  Though  this  be  mad- 
ness, yet  there  is  method  in  it;"  for  we  cannot  close 
our  eyes  to  the  fact  (unless  we  are  asleep  with  the 
rest  of  the  congregation)  that,  not  unfrequently,  if 
it  were  not  a  church,  the  most  appropriate  air  which 
the  organist  could  play  would  be,  "  We're  a'  noddin' ! " 


FEIENDLY    SOCIETIES. 

"  Ready  to  distribute,  willing  to  communicate  ;  laying  up  in  store 
for  themselves  a  good  foundation  against  the  time  to  come,  that  they 
may  lay  hold  on  eternal  life."— 1  Tim.  vi.  18,  19. 

No  one  can  know  so  well  as  the  parish  priest,  whose 
duty  it  is  to  visit  the  sick,  to  be  the  friend  who  loveth 
at  all  times,  and  the  brother  born  for  adversity,  the 
good  which  is  done  by  such  a  society  as  this.*  "When  he 
goes  to  the  home  of  some  poor  sufferer,  whom  sudden 
sickness,  or  one  of  those  many  accidents  to  which 
we  are  hourly  exposed,  or  the  infirmities  of  natural 
decay,  have  laid  upon  his  bed,  so  that  he  can  no  more 
go  forth  to  his  work  and  to  his  labour  until  the 
evening,  one  of  the  first  questions  which  a  clergyman 
asks  is  this — Does  this  man  belong  to  any  Lodge,  or 
other  like  association,  which  provides  relief  for  him 
in  the  time  of  need  ? 

And  how  much  depends  upon  the  answer !     If  he 

has  taken  the  wise  man's  advice,  "  Though   a  man 

live  many  years,  and  rejoice  in  them  all,  yet  let  him 

remember  the  days  of  darkness,  for  they  shall   be 

*  Preached  to  a  Provident  Institution. 


FRIENDLY  SOCIETIES,  1 57 

many ; "  if  he  has  prudently  joined  such  a  brother 
hood  as  yours,  he  can  send  at  once  for  the  medical 
officer  of  your  institution,  and  make  his  righteous 
claim  for  the  allowance,  which  is  due  to  those  who 
really  require  it.  Now  he  knows  the  meaning  of 
that  noble  word,  which  you  have  chosen  as  the  first 
title  of  your  Order,  "  Independent." 

He  asks  nothing  from  you ;  he  wants  nothing  from 
me;  he  simply  demands  his  own.  He  has  not  to 
quest  about  for  some  artifice  by  which,  disabled  from 
earning  his  weekly  wages,  he  may  supply  his  wants. 
He  has  not  to  endure  the  pain  and  the  shame  of 
supplicating  for  a  gift  or  a  loan.  When  he  asks  in 
his  calamity,  "  What  shall  I  do  ?  I  cannot  dig ;  to 
beg  I  am  a-shamed,"  he  is  not  tempted  to  dishonesty 
or  deceit.  In  the  sunshine  of  his  health  and  his 
strength,  he  foresaw  the  night  in  which  no  man  can 
work,  and,  now  that  its  shadows  deepen  on  his  path, 
he  is  not  without  oil  in  his  lamp. 

But  he  who  has  made  no  such  provision — who,  like 
the  poor  prodigal,  has  spent  all  on  self — he,  when  the 
sure  days  of  famine  come,  and  he  begins  to  be  in 
want,  is  indeed  forlorn  and  wretched.  On  him  has 
come  the  fulfilment  of  that  prophecy,  which  he  heard 
oft,  but  would  not  heed,  "  Behold,  all  ye  that  kindle 
a  fire,  that  compass  yourself  about  with  sparks  " — the 
fire  of  burning  passions,  the  lurid  flames  of  anger  and 
of  lust,  the  sparks  that  gleam  and  die,  of  worldly 
foolishness  and  pride — "walk  in  the  light  of  your 
fire,  and  in  the  sparks  that  ye  have  kindled — this 


158  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

ye  shall  have  of  Mine  hand;  ye  shall  lie  down  in 
sorrow." 

Alas !  with  a  double  sorrow — the  sorrow  of  his 
bodily  suffering,  and  the  keen  distress  of  his  mind. 
He  must  exist  upon  a  parish  pittance,  hardly  enough 
to  supply  him  with  the  necessaries  of  life,  when  he 
needs,  it  may  be,  a  generous  and  more  costly  diet. 
He  must  crave  the  uncertain  and  unwilling  help  of 
his  neighbours,  and  submit  to  their  criticisms  and 
contempt.  He  may  be  constrained  to  part  with  some 
of  those  possessions  which  for  years  have  ornamented 
and  brightened  his  home,  even  with  those  which 
minister  to  his  daily  need  and  comfort — his  furniture, 
his  clothes.  Nay,  he  may  have  to  leave  the  home 
itself,  the  home  of  his  childhood,  and  the  friends  of 
his  manhood,  to  die  among  strangers  in  the  work- 
house. 

There  can  be  no  question,  then,  that  it  is  the  interest 
of  every  man,  whose  means  of  support  are  derived 
from  his  own  exertions,  to  make  provision,  to  lay  up 
in  store  for  himself  a  good  foundation  against  the 
time  to  come,  when  he  can  no  longer  make  those 
exertions ;  and  it  is  the  duty  of  those  whose  means 
are  more  abundant,  or  who  have  the  power  of  advising 
and  influencing  others,  to  encourage  and  promote, 
by  every  effort  they  can  make,  the  manly,  wise,  and 
honourable  intentions  of  such  societies  as  this.  And 
it  is  a  sight  which  makes  the  heart  glad,  to  see  in 
this  church  to-day  so  many,  who,  having  weighed  this 
matter,  and  being  fully  persuaded  in  their  own  minds. 


FRIENDLY  SOCIETIES,  I  59 

have  come  to  a  brave  and  right  determination;  and 
we  rejoice  in  happy  thoughts  of  the  future — of  comfort, 
when  comfort  is  needed  most ;  of  relief,  of  which  no 
ratepayer  can  complain,  which  even  the  most  niggardly 
cannot  grudge,  which  brings  no  blush  of  shame  to 
the  cheeks  of  him  who  receives  it.  He  has  most 
help,  most  sympathy,  human  and  Divine,  who  helps 
himself,  and  in  the  days  of  dearth  he  shall  have 
enough. 

But  we  are  here  to-day  in  God's  house,  my  brothers ; 
I  might  call  you  brothers,  as  having  been  for  more 
than  forty  years  a  member  of  that  ancient  Society  of 
Freemasons,  which  has  been,  as  it  were,  the  parent 
and  model  of  your  Order ;  but  I  speak  to  you  to-day 
as  your  brother  in  the  great  family  of  our  Father 
which  is  in  heaven,  here  in  our  Father's  house ;  of 
that  family  in  which  both  He  that  sanctifieth  and 
they  that  are  sanctified  are  all  one,  for  which  cause 
He,  even  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  is  not  ashamed  to 
call  us  brethren  ;  "I  ascend,"  He  said,  "to  My  Father 
and  your  Father,"  being  "  the  Firstborn  of  many 
brethren;"  we  are  here  to-day,  because  the  wisdom 
of  those  who  made  the  laws  and  established  the 
customs  of  your  Society  looked  far  beyond  the  plain, 
simple  truths  of  economy  and  forethought  of  which 
I  have  just  spoken.  It  was  good,  they  knew,  to 
provide  for  sickness  and  old  age ;  it  was  wise,  in  the 
summer-tide  and  autumn  of  life,  to  store  the  corn  and 
the  fruit  for  winter's  food ;  it  was  brave  and  decorous 
to  look  death  itself  in  the  face,  and   to   ensure  for 


l6o  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

the  mourners  wherewithal  to  bury  their  dead.  But 
there  was  something  more  than  this.  Reason,  instinct, 
mere  selfishness,  suggested  forethought  for  the  future. 
The  animals  knew  it — the  bee,  the  ant,  the  beaver, 
and  a  thousand  others.  But  there  was  the  sovly  the 
breath,  which  God  had  breathed  into  man's  nostrils 
of  everlasting  life. 

These  bodies  of  ours,  it  was  good  and  wise  to 
make  provision  for  them,  because  at  any  hour,  how- 
ever strong  and  healthful  now,  they  may  be  throbbing 
with  pain,  or  sick  unto  death.  There  is  no  safe- 
guard, there  is  no  exception. 

I  passed  by  a  great  house  in  London  at  night; 
it  glowed  with  light;  a  long  line  of  carriages  filled 
the  street — 

"  And  tapers  gleamed,  and  music  breatlied, 
And  beauty  led  the  ball." 

I  passed  it  again  a  few  days  afterwards,  and  that 
street  was  thickly  carpeted  with  straw  ;  and  then,  by 
a  striking  coincidence,  I  went  by  once  more,  and  the 
blinds  were  down,  and  all  was  hushed  in  the  silence  of 
sorrow,  and  in  the  awful_  presence  of  death,  and  there 
was  a  line  of  carriages,  in  mournful  contrast  with 
that  which  I  had  seen  before — for  at  the  head  of 
all  was  the  hearse. 

It  is  good  to  lay  in  store  for  these  bodily  needs, 
because  they  may  come  to-night.  The  shadow  of 
death  rests  always  on  the  pathway  of  life,  whether 
that  life  be  upon  the  mountains  or  in  the  valleys  of 
the  world,  whether  it  be  in  palace  or  cottage,  factory 


FRIENDLY  SOCIETIES.  l6l 

or  field,  down  in   dark  mines  or  out   on  glittering 

seas.    It  is  the  shadow  of  God's  wrath,  which  fell  upon 

the  sunshine  of  His  love,  when  man,  a  free  agent, 

marred  His  work  by  disobedience,  and  brought  death 

into  the  world  with  all  our  woes.     It  rests  upon  the 

dim  dawn  of  wailing  infancy,  upon  the  bright,  happy 

morn  of  boyhood,  upon  the  hot  noon  of  passionate 

youth,  on  the  toilsome,  anxious  hours  of  manhood, 

and  the  calm  eventide  of  age.     But  no  man  knows 

when  that   shadow   will    turn   into   reality — ^life   to 

death. 

"  Leaves  have  their  time  to  fall, 
And  flowers  to  wither  at  the  north  wind's  breath, 

And  stars  to  set ; — but  all, 
Thou  hast  all  seasons  for  thine  own,  O  Death  ! 

We  know  when  moons  shall  wane, 
When  summer-birds  from  far  shall  cross  the  sea, 
When  autumn's  hue  shall  tinge  the  golden  grain  ; 
But  who  shall  teach  us  when  to  look  for  thee  ? " 

Yes,  our  astronomers  can  tell  us  to  the  minute 
when  the  sun  shall  be  darkened  and  the  moon  shall 
not  give  her  light,  "yet  doth  the  eclipse  of  sorrow 
and  of  death  come  unforewarned."  "  Man,"  says 
Solomon,  "  knoweth  not  his  time."  Of  the  infant 
born  to-day,  who  can  tell  whether  it  will  live  to  boy- 
hood or  girlhood,  manhood,  womanhood,  old  age  ?  A 
little  child  came  to  his  mother  and  said,  "  Mother,  do 
you  think  that,  if  I  were  to  die  to-night,  I  should  be 
with  Jesus  and  the  angels  ? "  And  the  mother  an- 
swered, "  Oh,  m}^  darling,  your  little  life  is  only 
just  begun;  how  can  you  think  and  talk  of 
death  ?  "     Then  the  child  said,  "  But,  mother,  when 


1 62  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

we  were  walking  the  other  day  in  the  streets,  I  saw, 
through  a  window,  two  coffins  which  were  less  than 
I  am ;  and  so  I  may  die  at  any  time."  Who  hears 
me  now,  and  has  not  some  unexpected  death  fresh 
in  his  memory  ?  "Who  can  walk  through  a  cemetery 
without  noting  that  to  every  period  of  life  the 
message  is  sent,  "  The  Master  is  come,  and  calleth  for 
thee  "  ? 

No  man  knows  wlien  or  liow.  The  manner  is  as 
uncertain  as  the  hour.  One  man  dies,  like  the 
author  of  the  "  Concordance,"  on  his  knees  in  prayer ; 
another,  like  Zimri  and  Cozbi,  in  the  very  act  of 
deadly  sin.  One  on  some  Alpine  summit,  another 
drowned  in  the  deep.  One  a  death  of  violence,  by 
the  knife  of  the  assassin,  in  battle,  in  a  burning 
theatre ;  another  so  peacefully,  so  gradually,  that 
you  know  not  when  the  spirit  leaves,  and  the  mirror 
is  put  to  the  cold  lips  to  see  if  there  be  breath  left 
in  him.  One  man  dies  far  away,  in  a  foreign  land, 
among  strangers;  and  another  where  he  has  lived 
his  life,  with  loving  faces  gathered  round  his  bed. 

We  try  to  ignore  the  inevitable,  to  forget  this  un- 
certainty, like  children  singing  in  the  dark,  that  they 
may  not  think  about  their  fears.  "  All  men  think  all 
men  mortal  but  themselves."  W^e  make  the  exception 
the  rule,  and  say,  because  some  are  so  strong  that 
they  come  to  fourscore  years,  that  we  are  sure  to  do 
so.  When  the  young,  or  the  middle-aged,  and  espe- 
cially when  persons  of  our  own  age,  die,  we  think,  or 
try  to  think,  that  there  is  no  similarity  between  their 


FRIENDLY  SOCIETIES,  1 63 

case  and  ours.  We  do  not  like  to  be  reminded  that, 
perhaps  only  a  few  weeks  ago,  they  were  as  confi- 
dent as  we  are  now  that,  though  a  thousand  should 
fall  beside  them,  and  ten  thousand  at  their  right 
hand,  death  would  not  come  nigh  them.  How  ready 
we  are  with  our  excuses,  how  quick  with  our  ex- 
planations !  There  was  some  latent  constitutional 
ailment,  some  family  weakness,  from  which  we  are 
exempt ;  there  was  some  neglect  or  mistake  in  the 
treatment  which  never  should  have  occurred.  We 
say  not  now,  not  yet.  We  see  the  pitiful  sight  of 
old  men  and  women  imitating  the  appearance,  dress, 
and  amusements  of  the  young,  trying  to  hide  the 
signs  of  age.  We  hear  it  said,  with  a  cruelty  which 
thinks  it  is  kind,  "  Don't  tell  them  of  their  danger  : 
never  even  speak  of  death." 

But  God,  in  His  mercy,  will  not  let  us  forget.  The 
signs  and  sounds  of  our  mortality  are  ever  before 
our  eyes  and  in  our  ears.  "  Change  and  decay  in  all 
around  I  see."  "  The  air  is  full  of  farewells  to  the 
dying,  and  mournings  for  the  dead."  Does  not  the 
outer  world,  at  this  season,*  preach  to  us  of  death,  as 
we  look  upon  the  decay  of  brightness  and  beauty — 
the  crushed  stubble  or  the  brown  earth,  where  the 
valleys  stood  so  thick  with  corn  that  they  seemed 
to  laugh  and  sing ;  the  "  withered  bents  "  and  dank 
herbage,  where  the  meadows  were  so  gay  with  flowers  ? 
As  we  watch  the  leaves  fluttering  down,  are  we  not 
reminded  of  Isaiah's  words,  that  "  we  all  do  fade  as 
*  Preaclied  ia  November, 


164  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

a  leaf,"  and  of  a  time  when,  stripped  of  all  our  adorn- 
ments, pretences,  and  concealments,  we  shall  stand 
naked  and  exposed  to  the  cold  blast  of  death? 

Why,  we  cannot  take  up  a  newspaper  which  does 
not  contain  sermons  upon  death.  Young  men  and 
young  women,  out  for  a  holiday,  in  strong  health  and 
high  spirits,  shouting  and  laughing,  turning  to  mirth 
all  things  of  earth  ;  and  a  pointsman  makes  a  mistake, 
or  a  driver  does  not  see  a  signal,  and  some  are  crushed 
to  death,  and  some  maimed  and  crippled  for  life. 
Twelve  hundred  children  meet  for  amusement,  and 
by  some  strange  thoughtlessness  a  door  is  shut,  and 
nigh  upon  two  hundred  are  suffocated  to  death.  A 
sudden  squall  comes  upon  the  lake,  and  there  is  a 
panic  and  a  rush,  and  the  pleasure-boat  upsets,  and 
half,  or  it  may  be  all,  are  drowned.  Or  the  lamp  is 
uncovered,  and  there  is  an  explosion  in  the  mine,  and 
the  widows  and  the  orphan  children  are  wailing  at 
the  mouth  of  the  pit.  You  can  hardly  take  up  a 
new^spaper  but  you  see  "  Fatal  Accidents,"  "  Awfully 
Sudden  Deaths,"  from  hemorrhage,  from  apoplexy, 
from  disease  of  the  heart.  Are  not  these  sermons  a 
thousand  times  more  impressive  than  we  preachers 
know  how  to  preach  ?  How  they  thunder  God's 
w^arnings  in  our  ears  !  "  Set  thine  house  in  order,  for 
thou  shalt  surely  die  ; "  "  Ye  know  not  what  shall  be 
on  the  morrow." 

Forewarned  of  these  fearful  contingencies,  and 
wisely  endeavouring  to  be  prepared  for  them,  with 
such  means  of  maintenance  and  relief  as  you  would 


FRIENDLY  SOCIETIES,  1 65 

otherwise  be  unable  to  secure,  you  are  brought  face 
to  face  with  death,  and  are  led  from  time  to  time 
to  ask,  What  is  it  ?  what  change  will  it  make  ? 

There  are  some  who  would  have  you  believe  that 
it  is  an  end,  an  annihilation.  To  me  it  seems  that 
such  a  belief  (if  it  exist)  must  be  the  wish  rather 
than  the  conviction  of  one  who  has  nothing  to  hope, 
but  everything  to  fear,  in  the  future — 

"  Whose  eye  no  more  looks  onward,  but  its  gaze 
Rests  where  remorse  a  misspent  life  surveys. 
By  the  dark  form  of  what  he  is,  serene. 
Stands  the  bright  ghost  of  what  he  might  have  been. 
There  the  vast  loss,  and  there  the  worthless  gain  ; 
Vice  scorned  yet  wooed,  and  virtue  loved  in  vain." 

Annihilation  !  I  have  seen  hundreds  die,  but  I 
never  heard  one  speak  as  though  death  wsre  an  end 
of  life.  "  I  shall  not  be  long  ^,er<3,"  they  say.  "  I  feel 
that  I  am  going.  I  shall  soon  be  with  those  I  have 
lost."  AVere  there  no  revelation,  reason,  instinct, 
philosophy,  would  teach  us,  as  they  have  taught  all 
earnest  thinkers  in  all  times,  that  nature  never 
gravitates  to  nought.  I  see  already,  on  tree  and 
shrub,  the  first  formations  of  new  growth,  the  germs 
and  buds.  The  very  leaves  which  are  fallen  will 
turn  to  mould,  and  so  become  the  source  of  their  own 
reproduction  and  continuance.  And  so,  in  all  that 
withered  dryness  and  decay,  we  find  the  seed  in 
abundance  which  is  to  perpetuate  life.  And  what 
teaching  is  there  in  the  seed  itself— how  God  brings 
new  groAvth  and  baauty  out  of  that  which  seems  to 
be  dead !     Why,  I  have  seen,  as  some  of  you  have 


1 66  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

seen,  a  fragment  just  cut  from  a  small  dry  seed,  which 
seemed  dry  and  dead,  put  into  a  powerful  microscope, 
and  on  the  application  of  water  the  little  white 
rootlets  began  to  shoot  from  it.  Seeds  which  have 
lain  dormant  for  more  than  a  thousand  years  will 
grow  when  sown  in  the  soil.  And  think  you  that 
it  will  be  a  hard  task  for  Him  who  made  man  from 
the  dust  of  the  earth  to  remake  him  from  the  dust 
of  the  grave  ?  Wherefore  Paul  writes,  "But  some 
man  will  say,  How  are  the  dead  raised  up  ?  and  with 
what  body  do  they  come  ?  Thou  fool,  that  which  thou 
sowest  is  not  quickened,  except  it  die :  .  .  .  but  God 
giveth  it  a  body  as  it  hath  pleased  Him."  Wherefore 
a  greater  than  Paul,  his  Lord  and  our  Lord,  has  said, 
"  Except  a  corn  of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground  and 
die,  it  abideth  alone;  but  if  it  die,  it  bringeth  forth 
much  fruit." 

Annihilation !  Those  great  and  good  philosophers 
who  had  no  revelation,  but  who  sought  humbly  to 
know  the  truth — and  not  having  the  law,  were  a  law 
unto  themselves — had  a  sure  faith  in  the  immortality 
of  the  soul.  One  of  the  wisest  of  these,  Socrates,  has 
said  that  the  great  study  of  his  life  had  been  how  to 
prepare  for  death.  To  the  sensual,  to  the  idle,  and  to 
the  unjust,  death  seemed  then  as  now  to  be  "  terrible," 
"  dreadful,"  and  dark,  and  "  hopeless ;  "  but  to  those 
who  loved  justice  and  kindness  it  brought  little  fear. 
They  saw  here  the  issues  of  truth  and  falsehood, 
cruelty  and  benevolence,  labour  and  indolence,  lust 
and  love,  and  they  regarded  these  as  intimations  o 


FRIENDLY  SOCIETIES,  1 67 

the  hereafter;  and  they  believed  in  future  reward 
and  punishment,  in  dismal  Tartarus  and  bright 
Elysian  fields.  God's  faithful  people,  under  the 
older  covenant,  knew  from  prophecy  and  type  of 
the  Resurrection,  and  looked  for  Paradise  regained; 
but  it  was  reserved  for  the  Son  of  God  Incarnate, 
not  only  in  the  history  of  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus, 
and  by  the  promise,  "  To-day  shalt  thou  be  with  Me 
in  Paradise,"  but  by  His  visit  to  the  regions  of  the 
departed,  when  He  went  and  preached  to  the  spirits 
in  prison,  to  dispel  all  doubt,  and  to  assure  us  that 
every  soul  of  man,  when  the  house  of  this  tabernacle 
is  dissolved,  goes  at  once  into  a  place  of  joy  or  of 
sorrow,  and  there  waits  the  judgment.     And  so- — 

"  There  is  no  death  !     What  seems  so  is  tranbitioii ; 
This  life  of  mortal  breath 
Is  but  the  suburbs  of  those  fields  Elysian, 
Whose  portals  we  call  death  ; " 

or  the  suburbs,  it  may  be,  of  that  city,  filthy  and  pol- 
luted, over  whose  gates  is  inscribed,  "  Whoso  entereth 
here,  leaves  hope  behind." 

The  founders  of  your  Order,  believing  this  as 
Christian  men,  originated  the  devout  custom,  which 
you  keep  to-day,  of  walking  hand  in  hand  to  the 
house  of  God  as  friends — friends  not  only  for  time 
but  for  eternity — that  you  might  thank  Him  for  His 
mercies  past,  and  pray  for  His  lovingkindness  here- 
after, confess  your  sins  and  receive  His  message  of 
forgiveness,  join  together  in  psalms  and  hymns 
and  spiritual  songs,  hear  His  most  Holy  Word,  and 


1 68  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN, 

suffer   the   word   of    exhortation   also   from   us   His 
ministers. 

Permit  me,  then,  in  all  earnestness  and  brotherly 
love,  briefl}^  to  bring  before  you  certain  Christian 
graces  which  are  suggested  to  you  by  the  principles 
of  your  Order,  so  that  your  Lodge  may  prove  a 
blessing,  not  only  to  your  body,  but  to  your  soul ;  so 
that  you  may  lay  up  in  store  for  yourselves  a  good 
foundation  against  the  time  to  come,  not  only  in  this 
world,  but  in  that  which  shall  be  hereafter ;  so  that 
you  shall  not  only  in  the  day  of  necessity  have  enough, 
but  in  the  perilous  time,  in  the  hour  of  death  and 
in  the  day  of  judgment,  you  shall  not  be  'confounded ; 
so  that  when  this  voice  which  speaks  to  you  is 
silenced,  and  the  ears  with  which  you  listen  shall 
not  hear  though  a  battle  of  artillery  were  fought 
above  your  grave,  the  soul  within  us,  that  from 
which  I  speak  and  with  which  3'ou  hear,  shall  be  in 
joy  and  felicity,  having  laid  hold  of  eternal  life. 

1.  Your  society  teaches  self-denial.  It  is  very  easy 
to  say  that  all  men  should  save  for  the  time  of 
sickness ;  it  is  especially  easy  for  those  who  can  have 
no  fear  of  want,  and  who  will  have  property  to 
bequeath,  to  preach  to  the  poor  from  St.  Paul's  text, 
"  If  any  provide  not  for  his  own,  and  especially  for 
those  of  his  own  house,  he  has  denied  the  faith,  and 
is  worse  than  an  infidel,"  but  it  is  no  easy  matter  in 
practice  to  lay  by  in  store  against  the  time  to  come. 
The  amount  of  subscription  may  in  itself  be  small, 
but  there  are  times  when  it  requires  a  good  resolution 


FRIENDLY  SOCIETIES.  1 69 

to  make  the  payment  regularly;  times  when  work 
is  scarce  and  wages  are  small,  when  the  poor  are 
very  poor,  or  are  tempted  to  lay  out  their  money  else- 
where. 

Need  I  tell  you,  as  Christian  men,  that  self-denial 
is  a  condition  of  our  salvation  ?  Our  dear  Lord  never 
spake  plainer  words  than  these,  "  Whosoever  will 
come  after  Me,  let  him  deny  himself."  That  we 
should  make  God's  will  our  will,  first  praying  to  Him, 
"  Thy  will  be  done,"  and  then  striving  by  His  grace 
to  do  it, — for  this  is  the  supreme  rule  of  the  gospel,  and 
the  only  road  to  that  holiness  without  which  no  man 
shall  see  the  Lord.  And  this  rule  cannot  be  followed, 
this  road  cannot  be  trod,  without  self-denial,  without 
doing  things  which  the  natural  man  dislikes.  No 
man  is  dying  to  sin  and  living  with  Christ  in 
righteousness  who  is  not  conscious  of  a  continual 
struggle  between  his  spiritual  and  carnal  self;  who 
-does  not  oft  sigh  with  St.  Paul,  "  I  delisfht  in  the  law 
of  God  after  the  inward  man :  but  I  see  another  law 
in  my  members,  warring  against  the  law  of  my  mind, 
and  bringing  me  into  captivity  to  the  law  of  sin  which 
is  in  my  members.  O  wretched  man  that  I  am,  who 
shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ? "  No 
man  loves  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity  who  is 
not  daily  endeavouring  to  do  something  which  his 
haser  self  would  rather  not  do,  because  his  heiter  self 
bids  him  do  it ;  who  does  not  do  kind  acts  from  time 
to  time  because  his  Saviour  went  about  doing  good, 
and  one  day,  before  men  and   angels,  will   summon 


I/O  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN, 

those  to  His  glory  who  have  done  works  of  mercy ; 
who  does  not  speak  kind  words,  and  take  heed  that 
he  offend  not  with  his  tongue,  because  his  Judge  has 
warned  him,  "By  thy  words  thou  shalt  be  justified, 
and  by  thy  words  thou  shalt  be  condemned." 

And  so  this  self-denial  for  the  body's  sake  shall  teach 
you  self-denial  for  your  soul ;  and  as  you  lay  by  for 
the  time  of  sickness  and  decay,  you  will  think  of  the 
Apostle's  bidding,  "  Upon  the  first  day  of  the  week 
let  every  man  lay  by  in  store  as  God  hath  prospered 
him,"  for  the  poorer  brethren,  for  the  work  of  the 
ministry,  for  the  extension  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ. 
And  specially  this  afternoon  I  would  bid  you  who 
are  here  in  health  and  strength,  surrounded  by  your 
friends,  to  give  generously  to  those  poor  sick  folks  who 
lie  in  weariness  and  pain,  far  away  from  those  nearest 
and  dearest  to  them.  The  diary  of  our  life  is  "  ruled 
for  accounts,"  and  in  it  is  entered  so  much  for  self 
and  so  much  given  to  God ;  and  our  Lord  has  Him- 
self told  us  that  what  we  do  for  His  sake  to  the  sick 
we  have  done  unto  Him — "  I  was  sick,  and  ye  visited 
Me."  The  time  will  soon  be  here  when  all  the  funds 
of  the  Manchester  Unity  could  not  buy  you  one 
moment  of  life,  nor  bring  you  one  thought  of  peace, 
but  when  the  memory  of  good  deeds  done  for  Christ 
and  His  poor  shall  be  as  music  in  the  soul ;  when  all 
that  has  been  spent  upon  selfishness  shall  be  lost,  but 
all  that  has  been  given  to  others  from  Christian 
charity  shall  be  safe  in  the  treasury'-  of  God.  Is  it 
not  written,  "  Blessed  is  he  that  considereth  the  poor 


FRIENDLY  SOCIETIES.  171 

and  needy :  the  Lord  shall  deliver  him  in  the  time  of 
trouble.  The  Lord  comfort  him  when  he  lieth  sick 
upon  his  bed  :  make  Thou  all  his  bed  in  his  sickness"  ? 
"  Never  do  I  remember  to  have  read,"  writes  St.  Jerome, 
*'  that  he  died  an  unhappy  death  who  had  freely  done 
works  of  mercy." 

I  see  that  one  of  your  Lodges  has  the  beautiful  title 
of  "  The  Good  Samaritan."  Let  us  all  be  good  Samari- 
tans to-day.  Don't  let  us  pass  by  the  sick  and  the  suf- 
fering like  the  priest  and  Levite,  but  do  what  we  can  to 
give  ease  and  comfort.  There  is  many  a  poor  man  and 
woman  in  the  wayside  cottage  that  can't  afford  to  pay 
for  the  treatment  which  their  case  requires ;  let  us  do 
our  best  to  get  them  into  the  hospital,  as  the  Samaritan 
took  the  wounded  Jew  to  the  inn.  Let  the  collection 
made  in  this  church  to-day  be  worthy  of  your  Order 
as  a  Christian  brotherhood.  No  man  ever  regretted 
the  following  of  a  generous  impulse  when  he  was 
asked  in  Christ's  name  to  be  generous.  It  is  our 
extravagance  upon  self  which  we  rue.  "  Give,  and  it 
shall  be  given  unto  you,"  is  God's  own  promise ;  but 
there  is  that  withholdeth  more  than  is  meet,  and  that 
meanness  tendeth  to  poverty. 

2.  Your  fellowship,  your  combination  for  a  common 
purpose,  your  frequent  intercourse,  must  evoke  fra- 
ternal sympathies,  and  tend  towards  hvotherly  love. 
But  no  mere  human  associations  can  teach  us  this 
love  in  its  integrity.  No  man  really  loves  his  brother 
simply  because  they  are  members  of  the  same  society, 
walk  hand  in  hand,  and  meet  in  the  lodge.     No  sii 


1/2  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

larities  of  taste  or  temperament,  no  reciprocity  of 
advantage,  no  success  of  mutual  co-operation,  can 
teach  true  love.  You  may  have  counterfeits  and 
imitations.  For  example,  a  man  will  tell  a  woman 
whom  he  would  deceive  for  the  gratification  of  his 
passion  that  his  lust  is  love.  A  man  may  profess  the 
love  of  his  country,  when  he  is  only  seeking  his  own 
aggrandizement;  love  for  his  fellow-men,  when  he 
only  cares  for  their  influence  or  applause.  Even  in 
the  purest  and  truest  of  our  natural  affections  there 
is  some  taint  of  selfishness.  You  cannot  find  it  on 
earth,  but  you  may  bring  it  from  heaven  by  the 
presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  3'our  heart,  and  then, 
when  you  love  your  brother  because  God  loves  him 
and  Christ  died  for  him,  then  it  is  yours. 

Consider,  again,  that  these  earthly  fraternities  are 
but  for  a  little  while. 

"  Friend  after  friend  departs ; 
Who  l;ath  not  lost  a  friend  ? 
There  is  no  union  here  of  hearts 
Which  hath  not  here  an  end." 

Faces  are  missing  to-day  which  were  with  you  at  your 
last  anniversary.  The  warm  hand  which  you  held 
in  yours  is  cold  in  the  grave  to-day.  That  is  a  sad 
entry  in  your  summary  of  events,  "Deaths  of  eighteen 
members."  Who  goes  next  ?  You  or  I  ?  It  matters 
not,  if  we  belong  heart  and  soul,  lip  and  life,  to  the 
One  Great  Brotherhood,  the  Sacred  Society  which  was 
formed  by  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  whose  first  officers  were 
working  men,  and  which  invites  all  to  join  in  their 


FRIENDLY  SOCIETIES,  1 73 

doctrine  and  fellowship  :  "  Come  ye  to  the  waters  " — 
the  Baptismal  waters — "  without  money  and  without 
price ; "  a  Society  in  which  none  are  poor,  for  they 
have  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ,  and  treasures 
in  heaven ;  in  which  none  are  weakly,  for  they  are 
strong  in  the  Lord  and  in  the  power  of  His  might ; 
none  are  forlorn  or  desolate,  for  He  has  said,  "  I  will 
not  leave  you  comfortless,  I  will  come  to  you,"  and 
Christ  dwelleth  in  their  hearts  by  faith ;  a  Society  in 
which  there  is  no  real  separation,  for  those  on  earth 
are  in  communion  with  those  that  are  at  rest — all 
one  in  Christ  Jesus. 

3.  Once  more,  it  is  impossible  to  survey  a  scene 
like  this  without  thinking  of  the  Psalmist's  words, 
"  Behold,  how  good  and  joyful  a  thing  it  is,  brethren, 
to  dwell  together  in  unity ! "  Our  dear  Lord's  prayer 
rises  to  our  lips,  "  Neither  pray  I  for  these  alone,  but 
for  them  also  which  shall  believe  on  Me  through 
their  word  ;  that  they  all  may  be  one."  Surely  there  is 
nothing  on  earth  so  like  that  which  we  hope  to  hear 
in  heaven  as  this  united  worship,  when  the  voices  of 
a  great  congregation  "the  strain  upraise  of  joy  and 
praise  "  to  the  Eternal  Trinity.  Alas !  my  brothers, 
it  makes  one  sigh  to  think,  in  this  peaceful  haven, 
how  the  waves  and  storms  of  discord  surge  and  roar 
without.  Wars  and  rumours  of  wars,  nations  boast- 
ing of  their  civilization,  and  professing  their  desire 
for  peace,  multiplying  their  fleets  and  armies,  ever 
designing  means  more  and  more  terrible  for  destroy- 
inor  one  another.     Oh — 


174  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

"  Were  half  the  power  whicli  fills  the  world  with  terror, 
"Were  half  the  wealth  bestowed  on  camps  and  courts, 
Given  to  redeem  the  human  mind  from  error. 
There  were  no  need  of  arsenals  nor  forts." 

And  then,  in  cities,  towns,  and  villages,  how  much 
disunion — social,  political,  ay,  religious,  disunion 
The  pride  of  station,  the  pride  of  riches,  holding  itself 
aloof  from  him  whom  God  has  placed  in  a  lower 
position,  or  in  poorer  circumstances,  or  to  whom  He 
has  given  no  special  gifts  of  mental  ability,  or  fewer 
opportunities  of  education,  designing  him  for  duties 
which  did  not  require  them.  Political  disunion  !  Two 
men  who  have  been  playmates  in  childhood,  school- 
fellows, friends  in  youth  and  manhood,  cutting  each 
other  in  the  street  because  they  have  taken  different 
sides  at  an  election.  Religious  disunion  !  Members 
of  the  same  family  parting  at  the  door  of  their  home 
on  Sunday,  and  going  to  different  places  of  worship. 

And  what  is  the  cause  ?  St.  James  was  inspired 
to  tell  us.  "From  whence  come  wars  and  fiorhtinors 
among  you  ?  come  they  not  hence  even  of  your 
lusts  ? "  We  are  disunited  because,  despite  Christ's 
At-one-ment,  we  are  not  at  one,  not  in  union  with 
God.  As  members  of  Christ,  we  are  as  limbs  stricken 
with  paralysis ;  we  do  not  obey  the  head.  We  are  not 
in  union  with  our  own  selves.  I  mean  our  own  truer, 
nobler  self — our  reason,  our  conscience,  our  spiritual 
instincts.  We  are  not  as  he  who,  really  striving  for 
the  mastery,  is  temperate  in  all  things.  We  think, 
like  some  foolish  athlete,  we  can  win  the  race  without 
training.     We  speak  before  we  think.     We  act  upon 


FRIENDLY  SOCIETIES^  1 75 

impulse.  We  let  our  passions  overpower  our  prin- 
ciples. We  are  provoked  by  trifles,  deceived  by 
shams,  and  satisfied  with  silly  excuses. 

What  is  the  cure  ?  First  of  all,  of  course,  to  begin 
with  self — to  inspect,  and  try  to  improve  ourselves, 
imploring  our  Father,  for  Christ's  sake,  to  send  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  help  us.  "  Acquaint  now  thyself  with 
God,  and  be  at  peace."  But  there  must  be  a  battle 
to  win,  and  always  discipline  and  armed  defence  to 
preserve  that  peace. 

And  when  we  find  how  hard  it  is  to  live  in  con- 
formity with  that  spiritual  self,  then  at  once  we  shall 
begin  to  be  more  tolerant,  more  pitiful,  more  kind,  to 
others.  "  If  thou  canst  not  make  thyself  such  an  one 
as  thou  wouldest,  how  shalt  thou  expect  another  to 
be  exactly  to  thy  mind  ?  '*  No ;  Christ  in  your 
heart  will  bring  Christ  to  your  home,  and  your 
friends  and  your  neighbours  also  will  take  know- 
ledge of  you  that  you  have  been  with  Jesus.  Your 
union  with  Him  will  unite  you  more  and  more  with 
those  for  whom  He  died — and  Ke  died  for  all.  You 
will,  with  something  of  the  mind  which  was  in 
Christ  Jesus,  begin  to  be  the  advocate  and  not  the 
accuser  of  the  brethren.  Instead  of  saying,  "  Fie  on 
thee,  fie  on  thee !  we  saw  it  with  our  eyes.  There, 
there,  we  would  have  it.  Now  that  he  lieth  down, 
let  him  rise  up  no  more," — "  God,  I  thank  Thee  that 
I  am  not  as  other  men  are," — we  shall  sigh,  "  Alas  ! 
my  brother;  Christ  pity  thee  and  me."  We  shall 
try  to  see  and  to  encourage  that  which  is  good — and 


1/6  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

there  is  something  good  in  all — ever  remembering 
those  beautiful  words  of  the  Apostle,  "  Let  all  bitter- 
ness, and  wrath,  and  anger,  and  clamour,  and  evil- 
speaking,  be  put  away  from  you,  with  all  malice  : 
and  be  ye  kind  one  to  another,  tender-hearted,  for- 
giving one  another,  even  as  God  for  Christ's  sake 
hath  forgiven  you." 

And  so,  my.  brothers,  walking  hand  in  hand  up 
the  steep  road  of  duty — your  duty  to  your  neighbour 
and  your  God — like  those  whom  Christ  called,  and 
sent  forth  two  and  two — following  the  same  sure 
Guide,  and  serving  the  same  kind  Master,  you  brethren 
of  the  Independent  Order  of  Oddfellows  of  the  Man- 
chester Unity  shall  realize  the  only  true  independence, 
the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God — liberty 
from  the  worst  of  all  slaveries,  the  service  of  the 
devil  and  the  dread  of  death;  you  shall  know 
the  only  true  fellowship,  the  Apostles'  doctrine  and 
fellowship — "  and  truly,"  said  he  whom  Christ  loved 
the  most,  "  our  fellowship  is  with  the  Father  and  the 
Son  ;  "  and  you  shall  be  joined  together  in  the  unity 
which  nothing  can  divide — the  unity  of  the  Spirit. 
Thus,  "ready  to  distribute,  willing  to  communicate, 
you  shall  lay  up  for:  yourselves  in  store  a  good  foun- 
dation for  the  time  to  come,  you  shall  lay  hold  on 
eternal  life." 


XI. 
HOME  RULE. 

"  Learn  first  (o  show  piety  at  home." — 1  Tim.  v.  4. 

We  have  heard  a  great  deal  in  the  political  world 
about  Home  Eule,  but  this  is  no  place  for  politics; 
this  is  a  place  for  peace,  not  for  contention ;  this  is  a 
place  for  "  fixing  our  thoughts  on  things  above,  not 
on  things  of  the  earth ; "  and  I  am  not  going  to  regard 
these  two  words  politically,  or  to  consider  whether 
Ireland  would  be  the  better,  or  England  the  worse, 
under  a  different  form  of  government.  But  what  I 
am  anxious  for,  and  what  I  pray  for,  is  this — that  I 
may  connect  these  two  words  which  you  hear  so 
often  with  some  higher  lesson,  some  spiritual  thoughts, 
some  consideration  of  your  responsibilities,  of  your 
possibilities,  of  your  dangers,  concerning  Christian 
Home  Rule. 

What  sort  of  Home  Rule  is  yours  and  mine  ?  Could 
it  be  said  of  us  as  it  was  said  of  Abraham,  who  was 
called  the  "friend  of  God" — "I  know  him,  that  he 
will  teach  his  children  and  his  household  after  him, 
and  they  shall  keep  the  way  of  the  Lord  "  ?    Could  it 

N 


178  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

be  written  over  your  door  and  mine  those  words  of 
Joshua,  "As  for  me  and  my  house,  we  will  serve  the 
Lord "  ?  Could  you  and  I  say  with  the  "  man  after 
God's  own  heart,"  "  I  will  walk  within  my  house  with 
a  perfect  heart "  ?  Could  it  be  said  of  you  and  me,  as 
it  was  of  that  noble  man,  for  whom  Christ  worked  a 
miracle,  "  The  man  believed  and  his  whole  house "  ? 
Could  it  be  said  of  your  home  and  mine  as  it  was  of 
the  man  Cornelius,  that "  he  and  his  house  believed,  and 
gave  much  alms  to  the  people,  and  feared  God  "  ?  Could 
it  be  said  of  your  home  and  mine  as  it  was  of  Zacch?eus, 
"  This  day  is  salvation  come  to  thine  house  "  ? 

And  if  Christ  came  now  to  your  home  and  mine, 
and  lifted  up  His  blessed  hand,  and  said,  "  Peace  be 
to  this  house,"  would  He  enter  and  find  peace  ?  No 
other  rule  is  precious  without  this  Home  Rule.  A 
man  may  have  vast  power  and  dominion  and  authority, 
and  be  a  good  ruler  in  one  sense  but  a  bad  man  in 
another,  unless  he  knows  how  to  rule  his  own  heart. 
As  St.  Paul  said,  "  If  a  man  know  not  how  to  rule 
his  own  house,  how  shall  he  take  care  of  the  Church 
of  God  ? "  "  The  kings  of  the  earth  stood  up,  and 
the  rulers  took  counsel  together,  against  the  Lord  and 
against  His  Anointed."  The  priests  and  the  rulers 
derided  the  blessed  Saviour,  and  sought  to  lay  hands 
upon  Him.  There  may  be  spiritual  wickedness  in 
high  places;  there  may  be  spiritual  wickedness  in 
your  heart  and  mine ;  and  so  long  as  a  man  does  not 
rule  his  own  heart  and  his  own  soul,  he  never  can  be 
a  great  ruler  over  others.     He  may  have  some  success. 


HOME  RULE.  1/9 

he  may  have  adulation,  a  great  show  of  service,  but 
unless  a  man  is  his  own  master  he  cannot  be  for  long 
a  master  of  others. 

Now,  the  first  great  principle  of  this  Home  Rule 
is  self-rule,  self-government,  self-command.  First  of 
all  we  must  know  what  we  have  got  to  command; 
we  must  know  who  are  our  friends  and  who  are  our 
enemies  in  this  little  kingdom  of  our  own  souls  and 
hearts.  Therefore  the  first  great  duty  we  have  to 
perform  is  to  get  a  knowledge  of  self;  self-examina- 
tion. 

This  was  the  conclusion  of  the  old  philosophers, 
that  the  great  work  of  man  was  to  know  himself;  to 
know  what  was  good  in  him  and  what  was  bad,  and 
to  try  to  promote  the  good  and  expel  the  bad.  A  man 
must  first  know  what  he  had  got  to  rule  in  himself, 
before  he  could  begin  to  rule  others.  Men  must  know 
themselves,  and  then  their  friends  and  their  enemies. 
Just  as  a  king  may  have  in  his  court  some  who  hate 
his  rule,  some  it  may  be  who  are  anarchists,  nihil- 
ists, some  who  would  gladly  rebel  against  him,  and 
some  perhaps  who  are  greater  enemies  to  him  still, 
those  who  will  flatter  him  to  his  face,  but  yet  who  are 
false  friends,  and  who  would  leave  him  in  adversity ; 
so  you  and  I  have  enemies,  who  tell  us  that  they 
are  our  best  friends,  and  yet  would  persuade  us  that 
religion  would  only  make  us  dull  and  dreary. 

Man's  great  enemy  from  the  first  has  been  disobe- 
dience, rebellion  against  authority — Divine,  parental, 
the  authority  of  teachers  and  masters ;  the  proud  idea 


l80  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN, 

that  he  could  do  better  for  himself  than  those  above 
him  who  loved  him  most  dearly;  the  covetous 
longing  for  something  which  he  had  not — the  one 
tree  of  which  he  might  not  eat ;  his  passions,  the 
''carnal  lusts  that  war  against  the  soul,"  idleness, 
tempting  him  to  forget  that  God  sent  every  man  into 
the  world  for  a  purpose,  to  do  something  not  only 
for  his  own  soul  but  for  his  fellow-man. 

The  working  man  has  a  right  to  say,  "What  is 
that  man  doing ;  what  is  he  doing  for  the  good  of  the 
people  ?  I  have  to  work  hard ;  what  is  he  doing  ? " 
God  would  have  every  man  work;  He  would  have 
no  drones  in  His  hive.  What  could  be  said  of 
a  man  whose  great  desire  in  life  was  only  to  feed 
and  sleep  ?  "A  beast,  and  no  more,"  said  the  great 
poet.  God  never  gave  to  man  such  capacity  for 
work  and  such  wisdom  that  he  should  let  them  rust 
unused. 

These  are  enemies  that  must  be  rooted  out;  we 
ourselves  let  them  in,  because  sin  cannot  conquer  us 
without  our  own  consent.  Every  man  holds  the 
key  of  the  fortress,  and  until  he  throws  that  key 
to  Satan  he  cannot  enter.  Self-examination  would 
bring  sorrow,  and  when  they  searched  they  would 
see  what  they  had  lost.  God  called  them  to  true 
repentance,  and  as  soon  as  they  repented,  then  He 
said,  "  Come  unto  Me,  all  ye  that  are  weary  and  heavy 
laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest." 

Thus  it  was  for  every  man  who  was  expelling  his 
foes  to  rule  his  own  heart.     And  he  would  find  a 


HOME  RULE,  l8l 

Counsellor  waiting  for  him.  Even  if  they  were  not 
Christians,  God  had  given  to  every  man  a  con- 
science. St.  Paul  told  the  Gentiles  this.  But  the 
Christian  had  a  Counsellor,  even  the  Holy  Spirit, 
given  him  in  answer  to  prayer  ;  given  him  first 
when  he  was  made  a  Christian  in  Holy  Baptism. 
That  Spirit  might  be  lost,  the  light  might  have  gone 
out,  but  it  would  come  back  in  answer  to  prayer,  to 
help  him  in  ruling  his  heart — the  Divine,  God's, 
Christ's,  Home  Rule. 

See  the  contrast  between  God's  rule  and  man's 
rule,  between  the  converted  and  the  unconverted 
heart.  Have  you  never  noticed  on  the  rail,  in  coming 
out  of  London  or  elsewhere,  looking  at  the  backs 
of  the  houses,  and  the  small  spaces  apportioned  to 
each,  in  one  there  was  brightness  and  beauty,  and 
cultivated  flowers,  but  in  another  were  heaps  of 
rubbish,  dirt,  and  disorder?  Or  going  into  two 
houses  you  have  seen  the  difference  between  the 
one,  where  there  was  rule  and  cleanliness  and  order, 
the  bright  ornamentation  that  made  the  place  so 
cheerful  and  homelike,  and  the  other,  where  there 
was  disorder,  the  home  of  the  drunkard.  It  has 
been  exhibited  in  pictures,  but  it  is  in  reality  far 
worse  than  any  artist  can  paint.  They  saw  here 
no  rule,  no  God,  no  Christ,  no  conscience,  no  Holy 
Spirit,  every  man  doing  that  which  was  right  in 
his  own  eyes,  regardless  of  his  own  happiness  or 
that  of  his  neighbour's,  and  bringing  misery  to  his 
home.     But  to  him   who   ordered  his   conversation 


l82  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

aright,  doing  his  best,  doing  his  duty,  what  light, 
what  brightness,  what  warmth  there  was  in  his 
house ;  he  had  a  foretaste  in  that  home  of  heaven 
itself!  Men  went  about  thinking  that  they  would 
find  in  the  indulgence  of  their  passions  the  gratifica- 
tion which  they  could  not  get  at  home.  Who  would 
not  be  ashamed  to  speak  of  the  gratifications  of 
lust,  and  compare  them  with  the  joys  of  home  ?  There 
was  no  love  in  this  world  like  the  true  love  of  a 
Christian  husband  and  wife,  a  Christian  father  and 
mother,  the  love  of  a  Christian  child  for  its  parents, 
the  love  of  brothers  and  sisters.  The  man  who  ruled 
himself  after  the  law  of  God's  commandments  had 
happiness  and  joy  in  this  world  and  in  the  next. 
He  was  generous  in  prosperity,  and  could  say  in 
adversity,  "  Shall  I  receive  good  at  the  hand  of  the 
Lord,  and  shall  I  not  receive  evil?  The  Lord  gave, 
and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away  :  blessed  be  the  Name 
of  the  Lord." 

Let  them  make  the  heart  right,  and  let  their  life 
be  cleansed  by  the  inspiration  of  the  Spirit,  and  the 
blood  shed  upon  the  Cross,  and  then  they  would 
have  Home  Rule,  home  happiness,  and  joy  which 
would  be  continued  through  eternity.  Some  said 
as  they  looked  on  the  pale  faces  of  their  beloved  in 
the  hour  of  death,  "  Oh,  I  can't  bear  the  thought  of 
losing  them."  But  the  Christian  said,  "  I  never  shall ; 
I  shall  always  have  communion,  the  Communion 
of  Saints,  with  those  that  loved  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and   proved  their  love  in  their  lives.     Only 


HOME  RULE,  1 83 

for  a  little  while  shall  our  earthly  home  be  broken 
up,  and  then  we  shall  meet,  first  in  Paradise,  and 
then  in  Heaven;  and  there  shall  be  no  more  death, 
neither  sorrow,  nor  crying,  neither  shall  there  be  any 
more  pain." 


XII. 

THE  FEIENDS  OF  THE  WORKING  MAN. 

If  the  admiration  of  our  fellow-creatures,  their  sweet 
smiles  of  sympathy,  their  earnest  words  of  praise, 
their  promises  of  abundant  gifts,  their  solemn  benedic- 
tions, and  their  oaths  of  eternal  friendship,  can  make 
us  happy,  there  must  be  times  of  exquisite  and  com- 
plete felicity  in  the  lives  of  you  working  men. 

For  example,  just  before  an  election,  "  what  a  piece 
of  work  is  man  ! "  —that  is  to  say,  the  working  man — 
"how  noble  in  reason!  how  infinite  in  faculty!  in 
form  and  moving,  how  express  and  admirable ! "  How 
everybody  loves  him,  and  wants  to  shake  hands  with 
him;  and  when  he  seems  somewhat  shy,  and  looks 
at  the  grime  on  his  fingers,  and  tries  to  rub  it  oflf 
on  his  sleeves,  assures  him  that  they  "  like  him  best 
in  his  war-paint,"  and  that  they  see,  in  those  evidences 
of  honest  work, 

*•  The  nobility  of  labour, 
The  long  pedigree  of  toil  1 " 

Wherever  he  goes,  appeals  are  made  from  window 
and  from  wall,  "  Vote  for  Sir  Place-Hunter,  the  friend 
of  the  working   man  I "  "  Plump   for  Windbag,  who 


THE  FRIENDS  OF  THE    WORKING  MAN,       185 

loves  the  working  man ! "  "  Poll  early  for  Firebrand, 
ye  down-trodden  working  men  ! " 

How  is  it  that  you  do  not  seem  to  be  flushed  with 
exuberant  joy  ?  Is  it  because  your  experience  sug- 
gests that  this  brilliant  demonstration,  raising  your 
eyes  heavenward,  and  sending  forth  showers  of  gold, 
ascending  like  the  rocket,  will  likewise  descend  as  the 
stick  ?  That  in  two  days  after  the  election  the  friend 
of  the  working  man  will  be  gone  from  his  gaze,  like 
one  of  those  beautiful  firework  stars,  and  that  he  will 

'•  Feel  like  one 

WJio  treads  alone 
Some  banquet-hall  deserted, 

Whose  lights  are  flel, 

Whose  garlands  dead, 
And  all  but  he  departed  "  ? 

Until,  after  an  interval,  back  comes  Firebrand,  the 
defeated  candidate,  to  do  a  little  more  in  the  "  tram- 
pling "  line ;  to  remind  the  electors  that  he  had  always 
told  them  that  his  opponents  were  humbugs ;  that 
they  would  never  get  anything  from  the  old  lady  at 
Windsor,  or  from  bloated  aristocrats,  who,  when  they 
weren't  engaged  in  the  Divorce  Court,  did  nothing 
but  gamble  and  drink  outside;  that  Whigs  and 
Tories  meant  nothing  but  office;  that  landlords  and 
employers  were  tyrants  and  thieves,  rolling  in  wealth, 
only  regarding  them  as  slaves  and  tools,  working 
them  to  death,  and  then  sending  them  to  the  Union 
(the  cemetery  seemed  more  appropriate) — chucking 
tho  orange,  as  Mr.  Firebrand  beautifully  expressed  it, 


1 86  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

into  the  swill-tub  when  they  had  sucked  the  juice; 
that  if  they  wanted  help,  they  must  help  themselves — 

"  Hereditary  bondsmen !  know  ye  not, 
Who  would  be  free,  themselves  must  strike  the  blow  ?  " 

Must  strike,  and  keep  striking.  Stop  the  engines, 
smash  the  machinery,  put  out  the  furnaces,  blow  up 
the  public  buildings,  despise  all  offers  of  compromise 
or  arbitration,  and  hate  everybody  except  themselves. 
My  brothers,  I  don't  believe  in  the  ancestral  ape, 
but  I  note  similitudes  between  men  and  monkeys. 
For  example,  I  was  admiring,  some  years  ago,  the 
affectionate  attachment  of  two  gorillas  in  one  of  the 
cages  of  the  Zoological  Gardens,  when  a  keeper  said  to 
me,  "  You  would  hardly  believe,  sir,  that  those  two,  no 
long  time  since,  were  always  jabbering  and  fightiDg." 
"  And  what,"  I  asked,  "  caused  the  happy  change  ? " 
"  Well,"  he  replied,  "  there  used  to  be  an  ugly  old 
baboon  along  with  them,  and  though,  when  they 
were  quarrelling  most  furiously,  he  would  retire  into 
a  corner,  and  assume  an  expression  of  disgust  and 
dismay,  I  always  suspected  that,  somehow  or  other, 
he  set  them  on  to  fight.  There  was  always  a  large 
amount  of  monkey  conversation  and  antics,  in  which 
he  took  a  prominent  part,  before  a  battle ;  but  when 
hostilities  commenced,  he  withdrew.  It  was  as  I 
suspected ;  for  when  I  moved  that  baboon  to  another 
cage,  those  two  had  only  one  more  bout,  the  biggest 
they  ever  had,  and  then  it  seemed  to  strike  them 
what  fools  they  were,  and  from  that  day  to  this 
they've  been  the  best  of  friends."     Just  as  you  and 


THE  FRIENDS  OF  THE    WORKING  MAN,       1 87 

I,  in  our  school-days,  when  that  long  fight  was  over, 
regarded  our  opponent,  through  our  discoloured  eye, 
in  a  new  aspect,  and  he  became  our  respectful  and 
respected  mate. 

I  left  the  apes ;  but,  as  I  sat  to  rest  upon  a  garden- 
chair,  I  thought  how  many  silly  monkeys,  called  men, 
were  always  quarrelling,  and  never  would  be  friends, 
and  though  they  had  lived  and  would  continue  to 
live  in  the  same  cage,  were  continually  suspecting, 
envying,  irritating,  and  assaulting  each  other,  when 
they  might  have  peace  and  harmony,  and,  like  the 
two  baboons,  in  their  happy  hours  of  reconciliation, 
might  relieve  each  other  of  many  disagreeable  para- 
sites. It  occurred  to  me  that  if  capital  and  labour, 
employers  and  workmen,  landlords  and  tenants, 
masters  and  servants,  clergy  and  laity,  would  show 
more  mutual  regard ;  if,  when  dissensions  arose  be- 
tween those  who  were  dependent  on  each  other,  the 
possibility  could  be  acknowledged  that  there  might 
be  faults  on  both  sides,  instead  of  the  usual  bluster, 
"  I  am  Sir  Oracle,  and  when  I  speak  let  no  dog  bark," 
instead  of  contemplating  our  own  virtues  through  the 
most  powerful  of  all  microscopes,  and  our  neighbour's 
meritis  through  that  most  minimizing  lens  which  is 
known  to  science,  the  inverted  telescope  of  self-con- 
ceit and  self-interest, — why,  then  we  might  hope  for 
harmony  in  lieu  of  discord,  and  for  confidence  instead 
of  suspicion. 

Then  I  thought  of  that  wicked  old  baboon  who 
made  the  mischief,  and  of  the   peace  which  ensued 


165  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

when  the  two  monkeys  were  left  to  themselves,  and 
there  was  no  flatterer  to  say,  "  You're  such  a  pretty 
monkey,  you  ought  to  have  a  scarlet  coat,  and  a 
cocked  hat,  and  a  barrel-organ,  and  not  to  associate 
with  low  and  ugly  apes ; "  no  bully  to  suggest, 
*•'  You  re  the  biggest,  hit  him  in  the  eye  ;  you're  the 
strongest,  take  his  nuts."  And  I  remembered  how 
much  harm  was  done,  outside  those  gardens,  by 
malignant,  restless  busy  bo  dies,  stump- orators,  and 
penny-a-liners,  who  never  did,  and  never  intend  to 
do,  a  hard  day's  work,  ''knowing  nothing"  (as  St. 
Paul  wrote  of  their  predecessors  more  than  eighteen 
hundred  years  ago),  "  but  doting  about  questions  and 
strifes  of  words,  whereof  cometh  envy,  strife,  railings, 
and  surmisings." 

There  is  no  man  more  odious  than  he  who  comes  to 
you  and  me,  and  says,  "  I  always  thought  that  you 
and  Bob  Smith  were  such  tremendous  mates  ?  "  And 
when  you  make  answer,  "  Yes,  we  were  at  school 
together,  and  have  always  been  sincere  friends,"  he 
proceeds  to  state  that  ''he  must  remark"  (there  is 
no  TYiust  about  it,  except  that  such  sneaks  must  make 
mischief)  "  that  he  was  surprised  to  hear  Smith  utter 
such  and  such  disparagements  "  (one-half  fiction,  and 
the  other  exaggeration),  which  inflame  you  with  a 
desire  to  punch  Robert's  countenance — for  "  to  be 
wroth  with  those  we  love  doth  work  like  madness  in 
the  brain  " — and  may  produce  a  coolness  through  life. 

I  mean  the  sort  of  fellow  who  says  to  the  rich, 
"  Don't  you  trouble  yourself  about  the  poor ;   if  you 


THE  FRIENDS  OF  THE    WORKING  MAN.       1 89 

give  'em  too  many  beans,  they'll  kick  you  out 
the  trap ; "  and  to  the  poor,  "  Mind  you  hate  the 
rich,  and  insult  them  as  much  as  you  can.  They 
love  you  just  about  as  well,  and  for  the  same 
purpose,  as  a  weasel  does  a  rabbit."  Who  says  to 
us  clergymen,  "  It's  no  good  your  trying  to  influence 
those  working  men ;  they're  all  sceptics,  infidels, 
secularists,  freethinkers;  they're  utterly  corrupt,  de- 
praved, and  hopeless ;  "  and  then  comes  to  you  work- 
ing men  and  says,  "Don't  you  be  gulled  by  those 
sleek,  close-shaven  priests.  They  don't  believe  what 
they're  paid  to  preach ;  it's  only  fit  for  women  and 
children."  I  wish  that  we  could  induce  these  irascible 
incendiaries  to  say  with  the  Psalmist,  "I  will  take 
heed  to  my  ways,  that  I  ofiend  not  with  my  tongue." 
They  ought  to  be  dealt  with  as  were  two  of  their 
bilious  brotherhood  in  the  old  days  of  duelling,  when 
they  had  provoked  a  quarrel  between  two  friends, 
kindling  a  spark  into  a  flame  with  their  malignant, 
slanderous  breath,  and  when  finally  they  had  per- 
suaded them  to  fight,  kindly  volunteering  to  arrange 
and  superintend.  Happily,  through  the  intervention 
of  wise  counsellors,  the  combatants  discovered,  before 
the  crisis,  that  they  had  been  deceived ;  met,  and 
made  a  material  alteration  in  the  programme.  When 
the  word  was  given  to  fire,  they  aimed  and  shot  at 
their  seconds;  and  when  one  of  the  meddlers  had 
received  a  bullet  in  the  calf  of  his  leg,  and  the  other 
had  noticed  a  disagreeable  whistling  sound  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  his  hat,  the  principals  declared^ tha^t^^^^jv^^ 

'^^     OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


( 


190  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

their    honour    was    quite    satisfied,   and    the    party 
broke  up. 

Is  not  the  moral  mainly  this  ? — that  the  more  those 
who  have  the  same  interest  and  vocation  are  brought 
together,  and  open  their  hearts  to  each  other ;  the  more 
we  act  upon  the  Divine  injunction,  "If  thy  brother 
shall  trespass  against  thee,"  be  he  rich  or  poor, ''  go 
and  tell  him  his  fault  between  thee  and  him  alone : 
if  he  shall  hear  thee,  thou  hast  gained  thy  brother ; " 
and  the  less  we  have  to  do  with  "  envyings,  wraths, 
strifes,  backbitings,  whisperings,  swellings,  tumults ;  " 
the  more  we  realize  our  inseparable  dependence,  and, 
above  all,  our  brotherhood  as  Christians,  and  our 
obligations  to  bear  one  another's  burden ;  the  more 
shall  we  respect  and  love  one  another;  and  that,  as 
we  recognize  the  duty  and  feel  the  desire,  we  shall 
have  the  power  to  help  each  other,  in  resisting  that 
which  is  false  and  cruel,  and  in  encouraging  that 
which  is  just  and  kind. 

You  have  another  lot  of  friends,  you  working  men, 
far  less  selfish,  far  more  sober-minded  and  sincere, 
who  don't  want  your  votes,  who  abhor  sedition  and 
schism,  and  follow  peace  with  all  men,  but  who  are, 
nevertheless,  disappointing.  I  mean  those  who  are 
continually  bewailing  your  errors  and  your  troubles, 
denouncing  and  deploring  and  suggesting  that  some- 
body else  should  do  something  (the  date  and  the 
method  to  be  fixed  hereafter)  to  alter  and  to  improve. 
The  rest  of  society  being  in  the  most  perfect  condition 
of  religious  and  moral  health,  the  working  man  has 


THE  FRIENDS  OF  THE    WORKING  MAN.       191 

been  pronounced  to  be  in  a  galloping  consumption, 
and  all  his  friends  and  neighbours  want  to  look  at 
his  tongue,  feel  his  pulse,  and  write  him  a  prescrip- 
tion. Infallible  remedies  are  suggested — the  perusal 
of  tracts,  the  hearing  of  sermons,  the  cold-water  cure, 
etc.,  etc.  I  am  reminded  of  a  scene  which  I  have 
often  witnessed,  when  one  of  my  parishioners  has  been 
suddenly  struck  down  by  accident  or  illness.  The 
bed  on  which  he  lies  is  suiTounded  by  all  the  old 
women  in  the  neighbourhood,  each  insisting  on  a 
different  treatment,  all  groaning  dismally,  and  pre- 
dicting speedy  dissolution.  My  first  process  was 
always  to  show  them  the  door,  and  then  to  open  the 
window. 

Open  the  window — more  pure  air  and  warm  sun- 
shine !  The  working  man  must  be  inclined  to  say 
to  such  a  concourse  of  physicians  (to  those,  especially, 
who  do  not  tell  him  where  their  medicines  are  to  be 
made  up,  or  who  is  to  pay  for  them),  "  Gentlemen, 
don't  let  me  monopolize  your  attention,  or  absorb 
your  valuable  time.  There  are,  I  am  told,  invalids 
elsewhere  who  stand  in  need  of  repairs.  For  example, 
you  say  that  I  am  suffering  from  a  want  of  refinement 
in  my  diversions,  that  my  sports  are  cruel  and  my 
pastimes  coarse,  and  you  ask  me  to  give  them  up, 
though  you  offer  me  nothing  in  their  place.  Well, 
doctors,  if  you  will  go  to  Hurlingham  and  other 
similar  resorts,  you  will  find  cases  quite  as  urgent 
as  our  hunting  of  the  rabbit  or  the  rat;  the  noble 
sportsman  killing  and  maiming  pigeons  let  out  of  a 


192  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

trap,  or  driving  five  hundred  pheasants  into  corners, 
whence  they  rise  reluctantly  in  the  familiar  presence 
of  those  who  have  reared  and  fed  them,  and  surrounded 
by  half  a  dozen  guns. 

"You  tell  me  that  my  mind  is  darkened  and  depraved 
by  literature  which  is  ghastly,  lewd,  and  profane ;  by 
entertainments,  by  songs  and  dances,  which  are  also 
more  or  less  immoral  and  obscene.  May  I  ask  what 
course  of  treatment  you  pursue  with  those  ladies  and 
gentlemen  who  are  suffering  from  French  novels,  or 
from  those  plays  in  which  adultery,  denounced  in  the 
Gospel  as  a  deadly  sin,  is  represented  as  a  pathetic 
romance,  or  as  an  amusing  jest  ? 

"  You  wisely  warn  me  against  betting  and  gambling, 
and  bid  me  deposit  every  farthing,  which  I  do  not 
want  for  my  necessities,  in  the  Post-Office  or  the 
Savings  Bank.  Pray  what  are  you  doing  for  those 
chronic  cases  at  Tattersall's  and  Newmarket  ?  Have 
you  discovered  any  successful  salve  for  those  bad  legs 
which  Holloway  has  failed  to  cure  ?  Why  are  there 
no  ^5  banks  for  the  rich  as  well  as  penny  banks  for  the 
poor  ?  Is  there  anything  new  in  strait- waistcoats 
for  those  unhappy  lunatics,  who  give  thousands  of 
pounds  for  horses  and  bulls,  hundreds  for  orchids,  and 
twenty  for  a  bantam  cock  ? " 

You  know,  and  I  know,  what  sort  of  doctor  is 
wanted  for  the  working  man.  Not  the  man  who 
remarks,  "  You're  looking  sallow  and  shrunk  for  want 
of  a  little  more  fresh  air  and  exercise,  and  I  wish  you 
may  get  it — good  morning;  "  but  the  man  who  says. 


THE  FRIENDS  OF  THE    WORKING  MAN.       1 93 

"  You  are  getting  rather  thick  on  the  ground  in  these 
parts,  and  I  have  bought  and  planted  some  twenty 
acres  of  garden  for  your  rest  and  recreation,"  The 
working  man  wants  no  learned  inspector  to  inform 
him  "  that  he  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  his  ignorance, 
and  that  he  should  read  theological,  historical,  and 
scientific  works,  instead  of  new^spapers  and  other 
rubbish."  He  prefers  the  announcement,  "  I  have 
built  you  a  Free  Library,  well  stored  with  all  kinds 
of  pleasant  and  instructive  books,  to  be  always  open 
for  your  use." 

When  Sir  Francis  Crossley  presented  a  spacious 
park  to  the  working  men  of  Halifax,  he  said,  "  I 
attribute  the  success  which  has  enabled  me  to  offer 
these  grounds  to  my  fellow-townsmen  mainly  to  this 
incident,  that,  when  we  first  passed  through  the  gates 
of  the  great  mill  yonder,  my  mother  said,  '  If  the  Lord 
prosper  us  in  this  place,  the  poor  shall  taste  of  it.' " 
How  could  the  poor  taste  of  it  more  sweetly  than  in 
fresh  air  and  fair  surroundings  ?  It  seems  to  me  that 
such  places  should  be  multiplied,  not  only  by  private 
munificence,  but  by  national  outlay.  Surely  one  of 
the  first  anxieties  of  a  government  should  be  the 
physical  as  well  as  the  moral  condition  of  the  people. 
Surely  the  commercial  man,  the  employer  of  labour, 
must  perceive,  in  his  consideration  of  profit  and  loss, 
if  he  have  no  higher  motive,  the  supreme  importance 
of  that  power,  which  health  alone  can  give,  to  see 
quickly,  and  to  strike  strongly,  and  to  endure  hard, 
continuous  work. 

o 


194  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN, 

How  much  more,  then,  should  the  Christian,  who 
professes  to  regard  all  men  as  brethren,  who  has  been 
taught  that  if  one  member  suffer  all  the  members 
suffer  with  it — how  much  more  should  he  strive  to 
brighten  the  lives  and  lighten  the  burdens  of  the  sons 
of  toil  ?  As  it  is,  is  there  not  too  much  truth  in  the 
sorrowful  sentence  that,  "  the  right  to  dwell  freely  in 
a  grimy  street,  to  drink  freely  in  the  neighbouring 
public-house,  and  to  walk  freely  between  the  high 
walls  and  palings  and  hedges  of  jealously  preserved 
estates,  is  about  all  that  the  just  and  equal  laws  of 
England  secure  to  the  mass  of  the  population  "  ?  Well 
might  Tennyson  ask — 

"  Why  should  not  these  great  sirs 
Give  up  their  parks  a  dozen  times  a  year, 
And  let  the  people  breathe  ?  " 

Pure  air,  not  carbon  nor  chemicals.  And,  therefore, 
I  regard  as  among  the  truest  friends  of  you  working 
men,  those  who  would  improve  the  structural  comforts 
and  the  atmospheric  surroundings  of  your  homes. 
For  example,  I  have  for  many  years,  as  some  of  you 
know,  taken  much  practical  interest  in  cottage  and 
window-gardening.  Not  long  ago  I  attended  an 
exhibition  of  the  latter,  of  plants  grown  by  working 
men  in  their  houses,  and  I  noticed  that  a  very  large 
proportion  of  the  prizes  was  awarded  to  those  who 
lived  in  Peabody's  Buildings.  They  were  fair 
specimens  of  healthful  growth  and  careful  cultivation, 
but  no  amount  of  attention  could  ever  have  produced 
them  in  the  ordinary  abode   of  working  men.      "I 


THE  FRIENDS  OF  THE    WORKING  MAN.        1 95 

don't  wonder/'  said  Lord  Derby,  the  grandfather  of 
the  present  earl,  and  the  fearless  "  Rupert  of  debate," 
— "  I  don't  wonder  at  men  craving  for  stimulants  who 
live  in  an  atmosphere  which  would  kill  an  oak ! " 
All  praise  and  honour  to  the  American  philanthropist, 
and  to  all  who  would  improve  the  dwellings  of  the 
poor. 

True  friends  of  the  working  man  are  they,  who  are 
proving  to  those  who  will  see  out  of  their  eyes,  or 
think  with  their  brains,  that  it  is  as  unnecessary 
and  unprofitable,  as  it  is  unhealthful  and  unjust,  to 
darken  the  light  and  pollute  the  air,  which  God 
designed  for  us  all.  True  friends,  who,  like  Mr. 
Carpenter,  by  his  lectures,  and  Mr.  Herbert  Fletcher, 
of  Bolton,  by  his  smokeless  chimneys,  and  Mr.  Samuel 
Elliott,  of  Newbury,  Berks,  by  his  recent  practical 
experiments  on  the  Thames  Embankment,*  have 
proved  that  this  smoke  nuisance  may  be  easily  and 
inexpensively  abolished.  The  determination  of  the 
question,  light  or  darkness,  fresh  air  or  foul,  cheeks 
ruddy  or  sallow,  height  five  feet  or  six,  weight  seven 
stone  or  twelve,  rests  with  you  working  men.  If 
you  prefer  gloom  to  brightness,  melancholy  to  mirth, 
debility  to  vigour,  your  silence  will  give  consent ; 
but  if  you  think,  with  the  inspired  Preacher,  that 
"  truly  the  light  is  sweet,  and  a  pleasant  thing  it  is 
to  behold  the  sun;"  if  you  have  a  wish  to  see  the 
leaves  once  more  an  the  trees,  and  the  fish  once  more  in 
your  sparkling  streams,  you  have  only  to  send  those 
*  See  the  Timei,  December  2,  1893. 


196  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN, 

candidates  to  Parliament  whom  you  can  trust  to  help 
you,  not  only  by  the  enforcement  of  the  laws,  already 
made,  but  largely  evaded,  for  the  prevention  of  the 
smoke  nuisance,  but  by  additional  and  more  stringent 
legislation. 

There  are  surroundings  far  more  noxious  than 
smoke,  far  more  perilous  to  some  of  you  working 
men  than  the  carbon  clouds  of  your  factories,  or  the 
impure  air  of  overcrowded  homes.  I  mean  the  deadly 
gases  of  the  mines,  the  poisonous  fumes  and  particles 
which  you  inhale  with  the  breath,  or  absorb  through 
the  skin — in  the  manufacture,  for  example,  of  white 
lead,  in  enamelling,  painting,  etc. ;  and  therefore  they 
are  your  true  friends  who,  like  the  late  Lord  Shaftes- 
bury, and  other  practical  philanthropists,  draw  public 
attention  to  these  pernicious  employments,  with  a 
view  to  minimize  the  evil  influence,  and  to  guard 
your  health  and  security.  Hence  the  beneficial  results 
of  the  Factories  Acts,  and  the  hopes  entertained  of 
further  assistance  from  the  Employers'  Liabilities 
Bill,  which  is  now  before  the  Houses  of  Parliament. 

He,  again,  is  a  true  friend  of  yours,  who  helps  in 
every  way  to  supply  you  with  good  and  cheap  food, 
who  does  his  best  to  deliver  you  from  suspicious  meat, 
superannuated  fish,  false  weights,  short  measures,  and 
bad  beer. 

Some  of  you  have  asked  me  what  I  think  about 
strikes.  I  have  thought  a  great  deal  about  strikes, 
read  about  them,  talked  about  them,  made  inquiries 
about  them,  and  have  collected  a  large  amount  of 


THE  FRIENDS  OF  THE    WORKING  MAN.       1 97 

information,  which  would  absorb  our  interest  and 
determine  our  verdict,  were  it  not  for  the  embarrass- 
ing fact  that  one-half  of  it  contradicts  the  other, 
with  a  positive  and  hopeless  defiance,  ^ow  I  am 
assured  that  the  mine- owners  and  coal-merchants 
are  rolling  (I  don't  understand  why,  or  how,  they 
roll)  in  riches,  and  then  I  am  told  by  proprietors  and 
purveyors  themselves  that  they  are  on  their  way  to  the 
workhouse.  They  are  like  those  commercial  gentle- 
men at  Coketown,  of  whom  Charles  Dickens  writes  in 
"  Hard  Times,"  and  who  always  announced  themselves 
to  be  insolvent  when  they  were  asked  to  do  any- 
thing unpleasant ;  they  were  ruined  when  they  were 
required  to  send  neighbouring  children  to  school ; 
they  were  ruined  when  inspectors  were  appointed  to 
look  into  their  works ;  they  were  ruined  when  such 
inspectors  considered  it  doubtful  whether  they  were 
quite  justified  in  chopping  people  up  with  their 
machinery;  they  were  utterly  undone  when  it  was 
hinted  that  perhaps  they  need  not  always  make  quite 
so  much  smoke. 

One  day  I  hear  that  the  men  on'  strike  are  the 
most  laborious,  thrifty,  temperate,  peaceful,  of  their 
kind,  and  the  next  that  they  do  a  minimum  of  work, 
never  save  a  penny,  drink  with  the  drunken,  and 
smite  their  fellow-servants. 

So  that  to  me,  as  to  another  resident  at  Coketown, 
Stephen  Blackpool,  it  seems  "all  a  muddle."  Some 
of  my  ecclesiastical  brethren  have  tried  to  clarify 
with  the  filter  of  their  benevolence,  but  they  have 


iqS  addresses  to  working  men. 

only  stirred  up  the  mud.  They  have  not  been 
encouraged.  One,  I  know,  high  in  authority,  largely 
gifted  with  benevolence  and  with  brains,  has  done 
his  best  and  bravest,  as  a  mediator ;  but  after  he  had 
addressed  a  meeting  of  colliers,  I  was  told  by  a 
villager  who  had  just  returned  from  it  that  "some 
on  'em  said  they  should  like  to  shoot  'im." 

For  those  who  are  not  experts,  or  have  no  special 
claims  on  obedience,  to  interfere  between  the  em- 
ployers and  the  employed  (I  pray  you,  my  brothers, 
not  to  surrender  the  grand  old  English  title  of  "work- 
man" for  this  brand-new  French  epithet,  employe!)  is 
usually  as  imprudent  as  to  join  in  a  quarrel  between 
husband  and  wife. 

I  remember  that,  when  I  asked  one  of  those  fluent 
speakers,  who  were  sent  throughout  the  country  by 
Joseph  Arch  to  declaim  against  the  sufferings  of  the 
farm-labourer,  why  he  and  his  colleagues  spoke  so 
bitterly  about  the  clergy,  he  answered,  "  that  we  were 
well  acquainted  with  their  wrongs,  and  should  have 
led  the  battle  against  the  owners  and  occupiers  of 
the  land."  I  replied  that  I  had  lived  some  sixty 
years  among  landlords,  farmers,  and  labourers ;  that 
the  latter  were  in  better,  and  the  two  former  in  worse, 
circumstances  than  I  had  ever  known  them ;  that  it 
was  not  for  us  to  dictate,  or  take  sides,  with  regard 
to  pecuniary  payments  or  other  worldly  matters,  of 
which  we  had  scanty  information ;  but  as  much  as 
lay  in  us  to  live  peaceably  with  all  men,  and  to 
preach  to  all  alike  the  Divine  principles  of  "  the  faith 


THE  FRIENDS  OF  THE    WORKING  MAN.       1 99 

which  worketh  by  love."  If  we  can  persuade  men 
to  be  Christians,  not  only  with  their  lips  on  Sundays, 
but  in  their  lives  always,  we  shall  find  a  power  to 
prevent  injustice  and  to  promote  peace,  which  Parlia- 
ment, philosophy,  and  eloquence  can  only  help  to  win. 

Proclaiming  to  Christians  their  sacred  obligation 
to  "  bear  one  another's  burdens,"  not  only  from  our 
pulpits,  but  from  our  example,  not  only  in  churches, 
but  in  the  homes  of  the  needy,  the  sick,  and  sorrow- 
ful, and  proving  ourselves  to  be  faithful  servants  of 
Him  who  is  no  respecter  of  persons,  of  Him  who 
included  in  the  proofs  of  His  Divinity  that  "the 
poor  had  the  gospel  preached  to  them,"  welcoming 
all  alike,  without  money  and  without  price,  as  children 
to  their  Father's  house,  we  shall  attain  unto  our 
heart's  desire,  to  be  to  you,  working  men,  "  the  friend 
that  loveth  at  all  times,  and  the  brother  born  for 
adversity." 

Yes,  my  brothers,  I  speak  that  which  I  know,  and 
testify  that  which  I  have  seen,  during  such  a  long 
and  large  acquaintance  with  Church  life  as  is  given 
to  few,  when  I  tell  you  that  the  most  anxious  am- 
bition of  those  who  are  doing  the  hardest  and  best 
work  for  their  Master,  is  to  bring  back  to  the  fold 
those  sheep  which,  in  the  dark  and  cloudy  day  of 
selfish  indolence,  were  neglected  and  scattered  abroad. 

I  am  speaking  now  to  some  who  can  bear  witness 
that  their  labour  is  not  in  vain.  "  Do  you  know,"  a 
working  man  said  to  a  clergyman,  "  why  I  first  came 
to  church  ?    Because  I  saw  you  at  your  work,  early 


200  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

and  late ;  not  like  some  of  your  brethren,  who  seem 
to  me  to  work  on  Sundays  only,  and  to  have  six 
Bank  Holidays  a  week." 

I  have  heard  of  a  lad,  who  was  treated  with  so 
much  severity  by  his  parents  because  he  was  not 
quite  so  clever  as  his  brothers  and  sisters,  that  he 
suddenly  disappeared  from  his  home,  and  was  not 
heard  of  for  years.  Then  a  reliable  report  came  that 
he  had  been  recognized  in  a  distant  land,  and  his 
mother  persuaded  a  friend,  who  was  going  there,  to 
make  inquiries,  and,  if  he  found  him,  to  give  him  a 
letter.  At  last  he  met  him,  but  he  seemed  to  have 
lost  all  his  interest  in  the  old  country,  and  to  be 
quite  indifferent  as  to  his  family.  Then  the  friend 
gave  him  his  mother's  letter.  He  took  it  reluctantly, 
as  though  he  hardly  cared  to  read  it;  but,  as  he 
read,  a  great  change  came  over  him.  For  she  wrote 
that  she  had  never  ceased  to  mourn  for  him  all  those 
years  since  he  left,  that  she  had  sorely  repented  of 
the  unkindness  which  had  driven  him  away,  and 
that  she  besought  him  to  return.  He  put  down  the 
letter,  hid  his  face  in  his  hands,  and  burst  into  tears. 
Then  he  seemed  to  be  considering,  in  an  agony  of 
intense  emotion,  what  he  should  do ;  and  then  he 
raised  his  head,  and  spoke,  with  quivering  lips,  his 
resolution,  "  Tell  her  Im  coming  home  I " 

And  so  I  believe  that  if  the  Church  of  England 
seeks  those  whom  she  has  estranged,  and  assures 
them  that  she  bitterly  deplores  the  separation,  and 
that  she  is  yearning  and  preparing  for  their  return — 


THE  FRIENDS  OF  THE    WORKING  MAN.       201 

I  believe  that,  in  God's  good  time,  she  will  hear  the 
answer  for  which  so  many  of  as  are  working  with 
all  our  energy,  and  praying  with  all  our  hearts,  "  Tell 
her  that  we  are  coming  home ! " 

Permit  me  to  remind  you,  ere  I  say  "good  night," 
that  the  best  friend — and  if  he  is  not  the  best  friend, 
he  is  the  worst  enemy — of  the  working  man  is  him- 
self. Nothing  from  without — no  sympathy,  gifts, 
legislation — can,  of  themselves,  bring  happiness.  It 
is  made  impossible  by  Divine  decrees — "  In  the  sweat 
of  thy  face  thou  shalt  eat  bread ; "  "  Owe  no  man 
anything,  but  to  love  one  another  " — that  idleness  or 
selfishness  should  be  happy.  Water  cannot  rise 
above  its  level,  and  where  there  are  no  high  reser- 
voirs, no  fountains  dance  and  sparkle  in  the  sun. 
To  thine  own  self  be  true — to  your  Christianity,  to 
your  manhood,  to  your  duty,  your  work,  your  wife, 
your  children,  your  neighbours ;  and  then,  in  a  con- 
science void  of  offence  toward  God  and  man,  in  the 
contentment  of  your  home,  with  its  "  hearts  of  each 
other  sure,"  you  will  find  a  peace  which  the  world 
cannot  give,  a  possession  which  no  gold  can  buy,  a 
nobility  which  no  king  can  confer — "  an  inheritance 
incorruptible,  and  undefiled,  that  fadeth  not  away, 
reserved  in  heaven  for  you." 


XIII. 
BIBLE  TEMPERANCE.— I. 

"Every  man  that  striveth  for  the   mastery  is   temperate  in   all 
things."—!  Cob.  ix.  25. 

"  Let  your  moderation  be  known  unto  all  men." — Phil.  iv.  5. 

Few  of  us  ever  forget  the  first  sight  of  a  drunken 
man !  The  feelings  of  astonishment,  abhorrence,  pity, 
and  shame !  What  a  desecration  of  all  that  is  to  be 
admired  in  manhood !  What  a  dethronement  of  its 
majesty  !  What  a  ruin  of  the  temple  of  God !  The 
body  which  God  made  in  His  own  image,  polluted 
and  defiled !  The  light  gone  from  the  eye ;  the 
tongue,  which  should  be  the  best  member  that  we 
have,  incoherent,  if  not  blasphemous;  the  mind  be- 
wildered; the  limbs  powerless,  staggering  to  and 
fro!  Well  might  the  Spartan  fathers  call  their 
children  to  look  upon  the  drunken  slave,  that  they 
might  ever  be  impressed  by  a  dread  of  such  degrada- 
tion. Well  might  our  king  of  poets  complain,  "  Oh 
that  men  should  put  an  enemy  in  their  mouths  to 
steal  away  their  brains  1  that  we  should,  with  joy, 
pleasance,  revel,  and  applause,  transform  ourselves  to 
beasts ! " 


BIBLE  TEMPERANCE.  203 

Some  to  whom  I  speak  may  remember  painfully 
their  own  first  act  of  drunkenness — the  helplessness, 
the  folly,  the  sickness,  the  abject  misery,  the  humilia- 
tion. 

Such  in  both  cases,  in  others  or  in  ourselves,  were 
the  Divine  warnings  with  which  our  merciful  Father 
ever  teaches  His  children  when  they  first  enter  the 
ways  of  unrighteousness ;  they  are  the  premonitory 
symptoms  of  a  disease  which  will  end  in  death  unless 
the  plague  is  stayed.  They  are  the  first  drops  which 
fall  before  the  thunderstorm — the  tears  of  the  tempest 
weeping  for  the  havoc  which  is  to  follow.  God,  in 
His  mercy,  always  sets  up  hindrances  to  sin.  An 
angel  meets  Balaam  in  the  way.  A  voice  whispers, 
"  It  is  wrong,  do  not  do  it ;  it  is  false,  do  not  speak 
it ;  it  is  not  yours,  do  not  take  it."  And  if  we  were 
persuaded  and  overcome  by  the  powers  of  evil — "  the 
lust  of  the  flesh,  the  lust  of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride  of 
life  " — then  come  disappointment,  fear  of  discovery, 
an  estrangement  from  those  whom  we  had  disobeyed 
or  refused.  The  applos  of  Sodom  were  as  ashes  in 
the  mouth. 

Oh,  happy  they  who  heed ;  happy  they  who — like 
a  child  wandering  by  the  river's  brink,  or  stepping 
upon  the  railway,  hears  its  mother's  voice,  and  comes 
to  her  embrace — obey  the  heavenly  summons,  "  in  re- 
turning and  rest,  shall  be  saved,"  and  hasten  homeward. 

But  what  of  those  whom  Satan  deludes  with 
promises  of  new  pleasures,  which  shall  not  pall;  to 
whom  worldly  companions  say,  "  It's  too  late  now  to 


204  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

retrace  your  steps "  ?  What,  for  example,  are  the 
results  of  drunkenness  ?  What  is  drunkenness  ?  It 
includes  a  great  deal  more  than  a  man  staggering 
helplessly  along  the  pavement;  it  means  excess,  it 
means  an  immoderate  use,  and  therefore  an  abuse,  of 
that  which  God  gives  for  our  health,  cheerfulness, 
refreshment  of  spirit.  It  means  that  superfluous  in- 
dulgence which  makes  a  man  less  qualified  to  do  his 
work ;  which  makes  him  dull,  idle,  irritable,  morose. 
There  is  many  a  man  who  is  "  the  worse  for  drink  " 
— whose  physical  and  mental  strength  is  weakened 
by  it,  whose  home  is  rendered  unhappy — who  never 
shows  signs  of  what  is  called  drunkenness.  He  stops 
at  the  boundary,  when  he  knows  that  further  indul- 
gence would  bring  him  to  an  exposure,  but  he  has 
overstepped  the  lines  of  temperance.  And  therefore 
He  who  spake  as  never  man — therefore  our  Lord 
warns,  "Take  heed  lest  at  any  time  your  hearts  be 
overcharored  with  surfeitinor  and  drunkenness,  and 
so  that  day  overtake  you  unawares."  Any  use  of 
stimulants  which  unsteadies  the  hands,  clouds  the 
brain,  sours  the  temper,  is  drunkenness  in  the  eyes 
of  God.  The  man  who  goes  on  sipping  through  the 
day,  and  every  day,  is  not  seldom  a  worse  drunkard 
than  he  who,  taking  a  quantity  of  intoxicating  drink 
now  and  then,  in  a  short  space  of  time  is  conspicuously 
and  ostentatiously  drunk.  But  a  man  may  commit 
suicide  as  surely  by  degrees  as  by  a  sudden  stroke  or 
plunge;  the  dram  taken  at  short  intervals  may  be 
as  fatal  as  the  prussic  acid  or  the  pistol-shot. 


BIBLE   TEMPERANCE,  205 

But  what  about  the  more  patent  results  of  drunken- 
ness? It  is  not  only  that  millions  of  money,  cen- 
turies of  labour,  are  wasted  by  it ;  *  not  only  that  the 
brain  is  diseased,  and  the  heart  weakened,  and  the 
limbs  crippled,  and  the  face  disfigured — "  Wine  above 
all  things  doth  God's  stamp  deface  " — the  man  abased, 
the  home  made  miserable ;  that  women  are  outraged, 
beaten,  and  murdered,  children  untaught,  starved,  and 
in  rags  ;  not  only  that  all  which  is  high,  and  noble, 
and  generous,  and  brave,  and  pure  is  destroyed  by 
drunkards;  not  only  that  this  sin  has  tarnished  our 
national  honour  and  enfeebled  our  influence ;  that  our 
emigrants  have  brought  a  curse  and  not  a  blessing 
to  those  whom  they  have  taught  the  use  of  it ;  it  is 
not  only  that  earthly  sorrows  have  been  multiplied 
a  thousandfold,  that  temporal  happiness  has  been 
marred,  and  the  bodily  health  has  been  ruined,  but 
countless  souls  for  which  the  Lord  Jesus  died  have 
been  lost. 

Not  only  at  home,  but  abroad,  for  our  missionary 
efforts  have  been  sorely  let  and  hindered  by  this  vice. 
It  has  been  said  to  our  missionaries,  "  You  come  to 
us  with  your  Bible  in  one  hand,  and  in  the  other 
there  is  a  cup  of  deadly  wine ;  you  tell  us  to  give  our 
full  strength  of  mind  and  body  to  Christ,  and  then 

*  It  is  stated  by  a  Glasgow  writer,  Alexander  Wylie,  in  a  paper  on 
•*  Labour,  Leisure,  and  Luxury,"  that  there  are  large  workshops  in 
which  men  securing  from  30s.  to  60«.  per  week  are  clothed  in  rags, 
and  cannot  be  trusted  with  expensive  tools ;  that  Tuesday  at  midday 
is  the  recognized  time  for  beginning  the  week's  work  after  the  utter 
prostration  caused  by  the  drinking  on  Saturday  and  Sunday. 


206  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

you  Christians  stupify  us  with  opium."  So  it  was 
said  by  an  Indian  who  was  reproved  for  drinking 
whisky :  "  Yes,  it  is  too  true,  we  use  it  too  freely ; 
but  we  do  not  make  it."  And  again,  when  a  British 
officer  was  trying  to  persuade  a  Mohammedan  to  be 
a  Christian,  and  a  drunken  Englishman  passed,  the 
native  said,  "  Would  you  have  me  to  be  like  that  ? 
My  religion  makes  it  impossible,  but  yours  does  not." 

Drunkenness  ministers  to  lust  and  to  every  evil 
passion.  The  police  have  given  frequent  evidence 
that  most  of  the  men  and  women  whom  they  have 
seen  going  into  brothels  were  more  or  less  intoxicated. 
How  often  do  we  read  in  our  police  and  assize  reports 
of  the  prisoner  saying,  "I  was  mad  with  drink!" 
The  chaplain  and  governor  of  the  Stafford  Gaol  made 
a  long  and  patient  investigation,  and  arrived  at  the 
result  that  ninety-two  per  cent,  of  the  convicted  cases 
had  to  do  with  drunkenness.  How  often  we  read,  in 
their  last  terrible  confessions  which  take  place  in  the 
condemned  cell,  that  these  wretched  men,  who  are 
soon  to  die  in  obedience  to  the  Divine  law,  "  Whoso 
sheddeth  man's  blood  by  man  shall  his  blood  be  shed," 
have  entreated  their  nearest  and  dearest,  and  some- 
times all  who  could  hear  them  from  the  scaffold,  to 
keep  away  from  the  drink  ! 

Drunkenness  enslaves  a  man's  soul  more  than  any 
other  vice,  because  it  disarms  him  of  his  reason  and 
of  the  wisdom  whereby  he  might  be  cured ;  and, 
therefore,  commonly  it  grows  upon  him  with  age, 
making  him  more  and  more  a  fool,  and  less  and  less 


BIBLE  TEMPERANCE,  2oy 

a  man.  I  need  not  add  many  examples,  for  all  history 
is  but  too  full  of  them,  and  the  drunkenness  of  Noah 
and  Lot  is  upon  record  to  eternal  ages,  that  in  those 
early  instances  and  righteous  persons,  and  in  a 
drunkenness  far  less  criminal  then  than  it  is  among 
Christians  now,  God  might  show  that  very  great 
evils  are  prepared  to  punish  this  vice — ^no  less  than 
shame  and  slavery  and  incest — the  first  upon  Noah, 
the  second  upon  one  of  his  sons,  and  the  third  in  the 
person  of  Lot.* 

But  we  need  not  go  to  distant  dates  and  scenes. 
The  miserable  results  of  drunkenness  may  be  seen 
in  our  streets  to-night.  Men  and  women  for  whom 
Christ  died  glorying  in  their  shame,  in  the  filthy 
conversation  of  the  wicked,  in  the  mockery  of 
religion,  "having  their  understanding  darkened  be- 
cause of  the  blindness  of  their  heart,  who  being 
past  feeling  have  given  themselves  up  to  work  all 
uncleanness  with  greediness,"  having  a  devilish 
delight  in  sin,  akin  to  that  of  the  murderer  in  White- 
chapel  and  Spitalfields.  Who  could  believe  that  the 
lips  which  speak  those  foul  words  were  once  taught 
to  pray ;  that  those  faces,  flushed  and  disfigured,  were 
once  bright  with  happy  innocence  ? 

It  is  told  that  when  the  great  painter  Leonardo 
da  Vinci  was  at  work  upon  one  of  the  most  famous 
pictures  in  the  world,  the  Last  Supper  of  our  blessed 
Lord  with  His  Apostles,  in  which  He  gave  His  last 
and  best  gift  to  His  Church,  the  sacrament  of  His 
*  See  Bishop  Jeremy  Taylor's  "  Works,"  iii.  52. 


208  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

Body  and  Blood,  he  had  made  studies  for  the 
portraits  of  several  of  the  Apostles  from  likenesses  of 
good  men  whom  he  knew  at  Milan,  but  had  not  found 
any  faces  to  suggest  a  countenance  for  the  Saviour. 
At  last  his  attention  was  drawn  to  one  Pietro 
Bandinelli,  a  youth  who  sang  in  the  choir  of  the 
cathedral,  and  had  not  only  a  very  exquisite  voice, 
a  most  attractive  face,  and  devout  demeanour,  but 
also  the  reputation  of  a  blameless  life.  He  made  a 
study  from  this  man  for  his  picture.  He  had  just 
finished  it  when  Pietro  left  to  study  music  at  Rome. 
There  he  came  among  evil  companions,  was  tempted 
to  drinking,  gambling,  and  worse,  and  rapidly  fell 
into  the  vilest  dissipation,  poverty,  crime.  Leo- 
nardo's picture  occupied  him  for  some  years.  When 
he  had  completed  all  but  one  face,  that  of  the  traitor 
Judas,  he  was  walking  one  day  in  the  streets  of 
Milan  when  he  met  a  miserable  object,  a  man  in  rags, 
unkempt,  unclean,  with  a  villainous  look  on  his  face, 
and  it  struck  him  that  here  was  the  expression  he 
wanted.  He  took  the  man  to  his  studio ;  and  when  he 
had  made  and  paid  for  his  sketch,  he  was  astonished 
to  hear  from  his  visitor,  "You  do  not  seem  to  re- 
member that  you  have  painted  me  before,"  and  to 
find  that  it  was  indeed  Pietro.  Yet  there  is  a  far 
more  awful  change  than  this  outward  transformation 
— from  purity  to  pollution ;  from  the  service  of  God, 
which  is  glorious  liberty  and  perfect  freedom,  to  the 
slavery  of  Satan,  the  most  cruel  of  all  tyrants ;  from 
light  to  darkness,  from  hope  unto  despair. 


BIBLE   TEMPERANCE,  2  39 

And  for  what  ?  It  has  been  quaintly  said  that 
"the  head  of  the  drunkard  aches  longer  than  his 
throat  is  pleased ;  that  his  heaviness  is  refreshed 
before  he  comes  to  drunkenness,  and  when  he  arrives 
thither  he  hath  but  changed  his  sorrow  and  taken  a 
crime  to  boot."  Well  may  the  Apostle  ask,  "  What 
fruit  had  ye  in  those  things  whereof  ye  are  now 
ashamed?  for  the  end  of  these  things  is  death" — 
death  not  only  to  themselves,  but  others.  Oh,  if,  as 
has  been  thought,  it  is  part  of  the  felicity  of  the 
saints  in  Paradise  to  know  the  good  which  they  have 
done  by  their  prayers  and  by  their  charity  ("  Blessed 
are  the  dead  that  die  in  the  Lord,  for  their  works  do 
follow  them  "),  and  if  it  be  partly  the  punishment 
of  the  reprobates  to  know  the  misery  which  they 
have  brought,  not  only  upon  themselves,  but  upon 
others,  what  must  be  the  remorse  of  the  drunkard  to 
know  the  sorrow  which  his  example  has  induced? 
I  think  one  of  the  saddest  sights  I  ever  heard  of  was 
seen  by  a  friend  who  told  it  to  me — a  drunken  father 
giving  his  little  boy,  not  more  than  seven  years  old, 
sips  from  his  glass. 

If  this  be  so,  I  need  not  say  how  gladly  and  heartily 
we  should  welcome  and  should  help  all  efforts  which 
are  made  to  promote  temperance. 

What  is  temperance  ?  It  is  the  moderate  use — I 
am  speaking  of  it  in  the  restricted  sense  which  applies 
to  our  present  subject, — the  moderate  use  and  enjoy- 
ment of  meat  and  drink,  such  as  may  best  consist 
with  our  health,  our  physical  strength,  and  mental 

P 


210  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

vigour,  and  may  not  hinder,  but  help  us  in  our  work 
and  in  our  duty  to  God  and  man.  It  is  the  thankful 
application  of  God's  gifts  for  our  need  and  for  our 
cheerful  refreshment.  In  the  words  of  Solomon,  we 
eat  our  bread  with  joy,  and  drink  our  wine  with  a 
merry  heart,  because  we  feel  that  God  accepteth  our 
works,  and  that  we  need  this  daily  sustentation  that 
we  may  do  them  bravely  and  heartily.  Whether, 
therefore,  we  eat  or  drink,  or  whatever  we  do,  we  do 
all,  as  St.  Paul  bids  the  Corinthians,  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord  Jesus.  We  say  our  grace  before  and  after 
meals,  using  God's  creatures  as  not  abusing  them,  and 
saying  with  the  Apostle,  "  All  things  are  lawful  for 
me,  but  I  will  not  be  brought  under  the  power 
of  any.'* 

How,  then,  shall  we  best  succeed  in  our  efforts  to 
diminish  the  fatal  results  of  drunkenness,  and  to 
increase  those  habits  of  temperance  and  moderation 
which  are  essential  to  our  happiness  here  and  for 
ever  ?  There  is  no  matter  in  which  the  old  proverb, 
"  Prevention  is  better  than  cure,"  is  more  true  than 
in  this  matter  of  temperance.  To  reclaim  a  confirmed 
drunkard  is  a  task  to  daunt  any  but  those  who  have 
faith  in  God's  omnipotent  mercy,  and  there  is  hardly 
a  sin  with  which  it  is  so  difficult  to  deal.  The  pledge, 
of  total  abstinence  seems  to  be  the  only  remedy,  but 
few  comparatively  take  it.  Many  break  it,  and  even 
where  it  is  kept  it  brings  new  temptations. 

We   should,  therefore,  teach  our  children  that  as 
Christians  they  belong  to  a  temperance  society  called 


BIBLE   TEMPERANCE,  211 

the  Church,  and  that  they  are  pledged  to  temperance; 
that  our  bodies  are  temples  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
that  whoso  defileth  the  temple  of  God  him  will  God 
destroy;  that  we  are,  therefore,  bounden,  as  the 
Catechism  teaches  us,  to  keep  these  bodies  in  tem- 
perance, soberness,  and  chastity  ;  and  that  we  shall  be 
judged  hereafter  according  to  the  deeds  done  in  the 
body,  and  shall  be  happy  or  miserable  as  those  deeds 
have  been  good  or  evil. 

Moreover,  that  God  has  given  to  us  all  power  to 
keep  ourselves  undefiled  if  we  will  ask  it  in  prayer, 
and  study  His  revealed  will  in  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
and  worship  Him,  and  do  works  of  mercy  in  His 
Name,  and  seek  Him  in  the  Holy  Communion,  so 
that  our  sinful  bodies  may  be  made  clean  by  His 
Body,  and  our  souls  washed  through  His  most  precious 
Blood. 

And  we  must  teach  them  that  temperance  is  to  be 
practised  not  merely  as  a  matter  of  health  and  a 
means  of  getting  earthly  advantages,  but  as  being  a 
duty  which  we  owe  to  Him,  and  as  enabling  us  to 
offer  Him  a  more  true  and  laudable  service. 

The  Church  teaches  temperance,  not  total  absti- 
nence. Such  an  imposition  of  a  vow  seems  repugnant 
to  Holy  Scripture.  It  is  tantamount  to  condemnation 
of  one  of  God's  creatures,  and  to  an  assumption  that 
we  are  wiser  than  the  Creator  Himself.  Wine  is  one 
of  God's  creatures.  We  call  it  so  in  the  most  solemn 
office  of  our  Church — Holy  Communion — "  Grant  that 
we,  receiving  these  Thy  creatures  of  bread  and  wine." 


212  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

We  can  hardly  be  said  to  believe  the  Bible  if  we 
proscribe  the  beneficial  use  of  wine.  "  Wine  maketh 
glad  the  heart  of  man"  (Ps.  civ.  15);  "Give  wine 
unto  those  that  be  of  heavy  hearts  "  (Prov.  xxxi.  6). 

The  Manichseans  condemned  wine  as  if  it  were  a 
creature  of  the  evil  one ;  but  the  Church  condemned 
them  in  canons  which  said, "  If  any  clergyman  abstain 
from  wine  not  for  the  sake  of  discipline,  but  in  a 
spirit  of  detestation  of  wine,  forgetting  that  all  God's 
creatures  are  good,  and  pronouncing  censure  on  crea- 
tion, let  him  repent  or  be  deposed."  And  again,  '*  We 
solemnly  charge  all  to  refrain  from  intemperance,  not 
that  we  altogether  forbid  to  drink  wine,  for  this 
would  be  to  deal  insolently  with  what  God  has  given 
to  men  for  gladness  of  heart,  but  that  according  to 
the  Holy  Scriptures  they  be  not  guilty  of  excess." 
Tertullian  sums  up  the  views  of  the  early  Church: 
"  We  are  thankful  to  God,  the  Lord  and  Creator  of  all ; 
we  repudiate  no  fruit  of  His  work,  but  we  practise 
temperance  lest  we  should  abuse  it." 

The  Manichaeans  in  the  Holy  Communion  did  not 
repel  the  juice  of  grapes,  but  condemned  wine ;  where- 
upon St.  Augustine  exclaims,  "  What  perverseness  not 
to  object  to  grapes,  but  to  call  wine  the  gall  of  the 
prince  of  darkness !  " 

So  in  our  own  time.  Unfermented  juice  of  the  grape, 
some  say,  fruit  of  the  vine,  is  mentioned,  not  wine. 
Answer — It  is  certain  that  the  wine  used  by  our  Lord 
at  the  Eucharist  was  such  as  would  intoxicate. 

The  Holy  Eucharist  was  instituted  in  the  spring, 


BIBLE   TEMPERANCE.  213 

in  the  month  Nisan,  nearly  a  year  after  the  vintage, 
and  could  not  have  been  unfermented  wine. 

It  was  certain  also  that  in  the  days  of  the  Apostles 
that  which  was  ministered  in  the  Cup  of  Blessing  at 
the  Holy  Communion  was  wine  which  could  intoxicate. 
We  learn  this  from  St.  Paul  (1  Cor.  xi.  20) :  "  When 
ye  come  together  therefore  into  one  place,  this  is  not 
to  eat  the  Lord's  Supper  .  .  .  one  is  hungry  and 
another  is  drunken." 

I  repeat,  therefore,  that  the  Church  teaches  her 
children  from  the  Bible  temperance,  and  not  total 
abstinence.  If  a  man  cannot  drink  without  drinking 
too  much,  let  him  keep  from  it  altogether ;  "  if  thy 
right  hand  offend  thee,  cut  it  off  and  cast  it  from 
thee ;  "  let  him  sign  the  pledge ;  but  let  him  remember 
that  in  so  doing  he  is  making  a  confession  of  infirmity, 
and  should  be  the  last  to  say  to  him  who  can  resist 
temptation,  and  needs  no  such  coercion,  "  Stand  by, 
I  am  better  than  thou."  He  is  surely  the  nobler  and 
braver  man  who  acts  from  principle  and  not  constraint, 
who  has  the  power  to  choose  between  use  and  abuse, 
moderation  and  excess,  and  chooses  aright.  "If 
temperance  is  a  virtue,"  it  was  well  said,  "  you  take 
away  my  power  to  exercise  it  when  you  make  me  a 
total  abstainer." 

Temperance  is  the  true  cure  for  drunkenness.  Let 
us  teach  it,  pray  for  it,  do  all  we  can  to  promote  it. 
We  cannot  obtain  it  from  Acts  of  Parliament,  though 
they  may  render,  and  do  render,  powerful  aid.  We 
cannot  secure   it  from  a  merely  secular  education. 


214  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN, 

though  in  this  we  also  have  a  powerful  ally.  We 
shall  fail  to  promote  it  by  wholesale  condemnations 
of  the  public-house  and  the  publican  (who,  in  many 
cases,  abhors  the  drunkard,  if  only  as  being  the  worst 
customer  he  has)  without  any  attempt  to  improve  the 
system  or  to  influence  the  individual.  "VVe  shall  be 
better  employed  in  Christian  efforts  to  raise  the 
religious  and  moral  tone  of  the  people,  to  teach  them 
the  sacred  dignity  and  the  true  beauty  of  manhood 
and  womanhood,  the  purpose  for  which  God  made 
them  and  Christ  redeemed  them,  and  the  Holy  Spirit 
is  ever  pleading  within  them,  even  the  salvation  of 
their  souls.  Let  us  do  what  we  can  to  make  their 
homes  more  healthful  and  bright,  that  they  may  find 
their  happiness  there.  "  If  you'll  come  and  live  in 
our  court,"  a  drunkard  said  to  a  philanthropist,  "you'll 
soon  take  to  the  whisky." 

Above  all,  let  us  have  more  faith  in  God's  grace, 
in  His  Word,  in  His  sacraments,  and  less  in  man's 
modern  inventions ;  more  faith  in  the  Church  and  less 
in  human  societies ;  more  faith  in  the  Divine  Master 
and  less  in  His  servants,  whenever,  in  all  humility, 
but  always  with  a  sure  and  certain  hope,  we  would 
overcome  evil  with  good. 


XIV. 
BIBLE   TEMPERANCE.— ir. 

"My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee."— 2  Cor.  xii.  9. 

What  is  grace  ?  It  is  the  marvellous  lovingkind- 
ness  of  God  in  the  redemption  and  restoration  of 
fallen  man.  "  God  so  loved  the  world,"  wicked  as  it 
was  and  is,  "  that  He  gave  His  only  begotten  Son," 
to  this  end,  "  that  all  that  believe  in  Him  should  not 
perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."  He  would  have 
all  men  to  be  saved.  He  hath  not  only  opened  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  to  all  believers,  placed  us  on  the 
road  that  leads  to  it,  sent  us  a  Guide  to  lead  us  unto 
all  truth ;  but  He  is  Himself  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and 
the  Life.  He  has  not  only  received  us  into  the  ark  of 
His  Church,  and  given  us  a  chart  of  the  voyage,  a 
true  compass,  an  anchor  of  the  soul,  sure  and  stead- 
fast ;  but  He  is  Himself  in  the  ship,  ever  ready  when 
we  cry,  "  Save  us,  we  perish  ! "  to  arise  and  still  the 
storm.  He  has  not  only  received  us  into  His  flock, 
marked  us  with  the  sign  of  His  Cross,  taken  us  into 
His  fold ;  but  He  goes  before  us,  and  we  know  His 
voice.      He  leads  us  to  fresh  pastures   and  by  the 


2l6  ADDkESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN, 

waters  of  comfort,  and  in  the  valley  of  the  shadow 
of  death  His  rod  and  His  staff  comfort  us. 

"  0  happy  band  of  pilgrims, 
If  onward  ye  will  tread, 
With  Jesus  as  your  Fellow, 
To  Jesus  as  your  Head ! " 

God's  grace  is  sufficient  for  them,  and  they  go  from 
strength  to  strength.  As  St.  Paul  writes,  "After 
that  the  kindness  and  love  of  God  our  Saviour 
toward  man  appeared,  not  by  works  of  righteousness 
which  we  have  done,  but  according  to  His  mercy  He 
saved  us,  by  the  washing  of  regeneration  " — that  is, 
by  baptism — "and  by  the  renewal  of  the  Holy 
Ghost" — that  is,  by  the  continual  influence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  granted  to  our  prayers,  and  communi- 
cated to  us  through  the  Sacraments  and  the  Scrip- 
tures— "  that,  being  justified  by  His  grace,  we  should 
be  made  heirs  according  to  the  hope  of  eternal  life." 

"  By  grace  ye  are  saved,"  says  St.  Paul.  "  Baptism 
saves  us,"  says  St.  Peter.  There  is  no  contradiction. 
"  Except  a  man  be  born  again  of  water  and  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
God ; "  "  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be 
saved."  But  there  are  conditions.  "  The  manifestation 
of  the  Spirit  is  given  to  every  man  to  profit  withal." 
We  must  grow  in  grace  and  in  the  knowledge  of  our 
Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  ever  to  increase  in 
wisdom  and  stature,  and  in  favour  with  God  and 
man.  We  may  "quench  the  Spirit,"  instead  of 
"  making  our  calling  and  election  sure."  We  are  made 
members  of  Christ,  but  we  may  yield  our  members 


BIBLE   TEMPERANCE.  21/ 

servants  to  sin,  yea,  make  the  members  of  Christ 
members  of  a  harlot.  We  are  children  of  God,  chil- 
dren of  light.  We  may  forget  our  covenant  with 
Him,  and,  forsaking  the  Guide  of  our  youth,  may  no 
longer  be  followers  of  God  as  dear  children,  but  chil- 
dren of  wrath,  disobedience,  bondage,  darkness,  Satan  ; 
of  those  whom  St.  Peter  describes  as  "having  eyes 
full  of  adultery,  that  cannot  cease  from  sin,  beguiling 
unstable  souls,  an  heart  they  have  exercised  with 
covetous  practices,  cursed  children." 

We  are  inheritors  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven ;  but, 
like  Esau,  we  may  sell  our  birthright,  and  find  no 
place  for  repentance.  And  it  seems  to  me  a  very  awful 
consideration,  that  these  alternatives,  these  glorious 
privileges,  these  disastrous  refusals,  this  power  of 
choosing  between  good  and  evil,  Christ  and  anti- 
Christ,  life  and  death,  are  not  taught  by  parents  and 
god-parents,  pastors  and  teachers,  so  earnestly  and 
commonly  as  assuredly  they  ought  to  be ;  that  the 
voice  of  Moses  is  so  rarely  heard  in  our  midst,  "  I  call 
heaven  and  earth  to  record  this  day  against  you, 
that  I  have  set  before  you  life  and  death,  blessing 
and  cursing:  therefore  choose  life,  that  both  thou 
and  thy  seed  may  live:  that  thou  mayest  love  the 
Lord  thy  God."  Or  of  Joshua,  "  Choose  ye  this  day 
whom  ye  will  serve.  As  for  me  and  my  house,  we 
will  serve  the  Lord."  Or  of  Jesus,  the  son  of  Sirach, 
*' Before  man  is  life  and  death,  and  whatsoever  he 
liketh  shall  be  given  him." 

How  many  fathers  repeat  the  Divine  warning  to 


2l8  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

their  sons,  "  Know  ye  not  that  your  bodies  are  the 
temples  of  the  Holy  Ghost?  Whoso  therefore  de- 
fileth  the  temple  of  God,  him  shall  God  destroy "  ? 
How  many  mothers  say  to  their  daughters,  "  Your 
adorning,  let  it  not  be  that  outward  adorning  of 
plaiting  the  hair,  and  the  wearing  of  gold,  and  the 
putting  on  of  apparel ;  but  let  it  be  the  hidden  man 
of  the  heart,  in  that  which  is  not  corruptible,  even 
the  ornament  of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit,  which  is  in 
the  sight  of  God  of  great  price  "  ? 

Were  we  taught,  do  we  teach,  the  beauty  of  inno- 
cence, the  power  of  purity,  the  masked  ugliness  and 
the  cancerous  corruption  of  sin,  as  they  are  revealed 
to  us  here  ?  And  what  miserable  excuses !  "  We 
must  not  suggest  evil"  (as  though  the  lust  of  the 
flesh  which  remains  in  the  regenerate,  the  world, 
and  the  devil  would  not  suggest  it),  instead  of 
showing  how  to  overcome  evil  with  good.  "  Youth 
must  have  its  fling" — a  direct  contradiction  of  the 
text,  "  My  grace  is  suflficient ; "  of  the  beloved 
Apostle's  words,  "For  greater  is  He  that  is  in  you 
than  he  that  is  in  the  world;"  of  St.  Paul's,  "He 
will  not  sufier  you  to  be  tempted  above  that  ye  are 
able,  but  will  with  the  temptation  also  make  a 
way  to  escape,  that  ye  may  be  able  to  bear  it ; "  of 
our  dear  Lord's  promise,  "  In  the  world  ye  shall 
have  tribulation :  but  be  of  good  cheer ;  I  have  over- 
come the  world."  Or  sometimes  they  say,  "  We  must 
not  make  religion  distasteful ;  children  have  lessons 
enough  without  being  bored  with  religion.     We  have 


BIBLE   TEMPERANCE,  219 

taught  them  to  say  prayers;  they  have  learned  the 
Catechism ;  we  take  them  to  church  on  Sunday ; 
that  is  enough."  But  the  religion  of  the  Cross 
must  be  distasteful,  because  it  teaches  us  hard  work, 
severe  duty,  self-denial,  a  battle  against  subtle 
enemies,  which  we  can  never  win  unless  we  endure 
hardships  as  good  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
fight  the  good  fight  of  faith.  Thus  taught,  they 
are  prepared  and  armed ;  but  if  we  do  not  forewarn 
them  of  danger,  nor  reveal  its  nature  and  methods, 
how  shall  they  resist  or  escape  ?  On  the  contrary, 
they  will  gradually  lose  the  spiritual  instincts  of 
their  baptism,  and  the  remonstrances  of  conscience 
will  cease  to  plead.  The  weeds  will  spring  up  in 
the  neglected  soil,  and  choke  the  Word  until  it  be- 
cometh  unfruitful. 

"Without  care  and  culture,  there  must  be  a  rever- 
sion to  type.  Cease  to  row  against  the  stream,  and 
you  drift  to  the  falls.  There  will  be  a  gradual  de- 
terioration and  decay.  So  "  the  canes  of  Egypt,  when 
they  newly  arise  from  the  mud  and  slime  of  the 
Nile,  start  up  into  an  equal  and  continual  length, 
and  are  interrupted  with  but  few  knots,  and  are 
strong  and  beauteous,  with  great  distances  and  in- 
tervals ;  but  when  they  are  grown  to  their  full 
length,  they  lessen  into  the  point  of  a  pyramid,  and 
multiply  their  knots  and  joints,  interrupting  the  fine- 
ness and  smoothness  of  their  body."  So  are  the  steps 
and  declensions  of  him  who  does  not  grow  in  grace. 
At  first,  when  he  springs  up  from  his  impurity  by 


220  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

the  waters  of  baptism,  he  grows  straight  and  strong, 
and  suffers  but  few  interruptions  of  piety ;  then  they 
become  weaker  and  more  interrupted,  even  as  men 
love  God  and  religion  less  and  less,  till  their  old  age, 
instead  of  being  a  crown  of  virtue  and  perseverance, 
ends  in  levity  and  an  unprofitable  course.  Light  and 
useless  are  the  tufted  feathers  on  the  cane;  every 
wind  can  play  with  it  and  abuse  it,  but  no  man  can 
make  it  useful. 

**  Vice  is  a  monster  of  such  hateful  mien,  "^ 

As  to  be  hated  needs  but  to  be  seen  ; 
But  seen  too  oft,  familiar  with  her  face, 
Men  first  endure,  then  pity,  then  embrace." 

So,  in  too  many  sad  and  shameful  instances,  the 
young,  who  have  never  been  taught  that  sins  of 
uncleanness  and  impurity  are  deadly  to  their  souls, 
and  therefore  to  fear  the  first  approaches  and  looks 
of  lust,  will  be  easily  enticed  and  ensnared;  those 
who  have  never  taken  to  heart  the  declarations  of 
God  against  drunkenness,  will  only  regard  it  with 
ridicule,  or  resent  it  with  disgust;  they  who  never 
realized  that  a  false  weight  is  an  abomination  to  the 
Lord,  and  that  His  eyes  are  in  every  place,  beholding 
the  evil  and  the  good,  will  become  unscrupulous  and 
fraudulent  when  they  do  not  fear  discovery;  when 
industry  has  never  been  accepted  as  a  duty  to  Him 
who  hath  given  every  man  his  work  to  do,  idleness 
will  spread  as  dry  rot  in  wood,  or  vermin  in  stagnant 
waters ;  he  who  hath  never  divined  the  sacred  majesty 
of  truth,  first  questions  its  existence  as  Pilate,  and 


BIBLE   TEMPERANCE.  221 

then  crucifies  it,  and  learns  a  delusion  and  a  lie; 
and  so  to  the  house  which  might  have  been,  like 
the  cottages  of  Nazareth,  Bethany,  and  Capernaum, 
the  home  of  Christ,  come  seven  evil  spirits,  seven 
deadly  sins,  and  make  their  abode  therein.  "  Babylon, 
the  glory  of  kingdoms,  the  beauty  of  the  Chaldees' 
excellency,  shall  be  as  when  God  overthrew  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah."  "  They  are  mad  upon  their  idols ; 
therefore  the  wild  beasts  of  the  desert  with  the  wild 
beasts  of  the  islands  shall  dwell  there,  and  the  owls 
shall  dwell  therein :  and  it  shall  be  no  more  inhabited 
for  ever ;  neither  shall  it  be  dwelt  in  from  generation 
to  generation." 

Is  it  not  a  terrible  calamity  that  there  are  so  many 
millions  of  men  and  women,  that  have  entered  into 
a  state  of  sickness  and  danger,  and  yet  are  made  to 
believe  that  they  are  in  perfect  health ;  and  they  do 
actions,  concerning  which  they  never  made  a  question 
whether  they  were  just  or  no,  nor  were  ever  taught 
by  what  names  to  call  them  ?  For  while  they  observe 
that  chastity  and  modesty  are  described  by  false 
names,  such  as  coldness  of  temperament  and  a  silly 
shyness  and  awkwardness  of  behaviour,  and  con- 
tentedness  and  simplicity  are  denounced  as  want  of 
spirit  and  meanness,  and  that  honesty  is  declared 
to  be  overscrupulous  and  impracticable,  they  can,  at 
the  same  time,  be  induced  to  believe  that  extrava- 
gance is  generosity,  to  call  lust  love,  and  licence 
liberty ;  and  under  these  false  veils  virtue  slips  away, 
and  leaves  vice  disguised  in  the  same  imagery ;  and 


223  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

this  fraud  may  not  be  discovered  until  the  day  of 
recompense,  when  all  disguises  and  deceits  will  fall, 
and  God  shall  bring  every  work  unto  judgment,  with 
every  secret  thing,  whether  it  be  good  or  whether 
it  be  evil.  Before  the  coming  of  that  dreadful  day. 
He  whose  'compassions  fail  not,  whose  mercies  are 
new;  every  morning,  He  who  willeth  not  that  any 
should  perish,  sends  many  a  warning,  many  a  precious 
invitation.  "  Return  unto  Me,  and  I  will  return  unto 
you,  saith  the  Lord ;  but  they  say,  Wherein  shall  we 
return  ? "  The  way  of  truth  they  have  not  known. 
They  have  done  despite  to  the  Spirit  of  grace.  There 
is  only  one  road  which  can  lead  them  from  the  power 
of  Satan  to  God,  and  that  seems  so  dreary,  so  narrow, 
and  steep — the  road  of  repentance.  There  is  not 
room  on  it  for  them  and  their  favourite  sin,  and  they 
cannot  make  up  their  mind  to  separate.  The  heart 
is  petrified,  the  will  is  paralyzed.  All  their  sur- 
roundings, their  companions,  are  evil. 

Take,  for  example,  the  sin  of  drunkenness.  If  that 
sin  once  gains  the  mastery  and  becomes  habitual, 
its  expulsion  would  seem  hopeless,  had  we  not  faith 
in  Him  to  whom  all  things  are  possible.  Only  His 
grace  can  convince  and  convert,  restore  and  reform. 
But  the  Holy  Spirit  cannot  coexist  with  that  evil 
life  (and  the  life  of  the  drunkard  is,  as  a  rule,  de- 
graded by  many  sins),  for  what  communion  hath 
light  with  darkness.^  What  covenant  hath  Christ 
with  Belial  ?  or  the  temple  of  God  with  idols  ?  And 
therefore   we   must   regard   with   great  respect   and 


BIBLE   TEMPERANCE,  223 

gratitude  all  earnest  efforts  which  are  made  to  pre- 
pare that  poor  helpless  soul  to  receive  the  renovations 
of  grace,  and  to  bring  forth  fruits  meet  for  repentance, 
and  it  is  meet,  right,  and  our  bounden  duty  that  we 
should  support  with  our  prayers  and  with  our  alms 
the  endeavours  made  by  the  Church  of  England 
Temperance  Society  to  induce  confirmed  drunkards 
to  pledge  themselves  to  total  abstinence  from  all 
intoxicating  drink.  It  is  too  late  to  talk  to  them 
about  temperance,  too  late  to  preach  to  them  from 
the  texts,  "Let  your  moderation  be  known  unto  all 
men ;  "  "  Every  creature  of  God  is  good,  and  nothing 
to  be  refused,  if  it  be  received  with  thanksgiving;" 
"  Using  and  not  abusing  His  gifts : "  they  cannot 
taste  without  the  excess  which  disgraces  and  defiles 
them. 

All  the  same,  to  these  men,  while  every  sympathy 
and  encouragement  is  given  that  Christian  love 
evokes,  the  truth  must  be  also  told.  That  they  have 
broken  their  pledge,  as  members  of  the  greatest 
temperance  society  of  the  world,  the  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ,  a  pledge  ten  thousand  times  more  solemn 
than  any  human  society  can  devise,  to  keep  their 
bodies  in  temperance ;  have  resisted  instead  of  accept- 
ing that  grace  which  was  sufiicient  to  have  empowered 
them  to  keep  their  vows ;  being  harnessed  and  carry- 
ing bows,  have  turned  themselves  back  in  the  day 
of  battle ;  and  that,  so  far  from  being  misled  by  any 
elations  of  pride  or  of  confident  boasting,  they  have 
need  to  humble  themselves  in  the  dust    as  having 


224  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

grieved  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  and  crucified  the 
Son  of  God  afresh.  They  must  be  told,  moreover, 
that  abstinence  from  one  sin  will  not  condone  any 
other  transgression  of  God's  laws. 

True  temperance  means  a  great  deal  more  than 
keeping  from  drunkenness.  It  means  the  mastery 
over  all  bad  passions  and  tempers,  and  the  substitu- 
tion of  a  virtuous  and  godly  living.  What  says  the 
inspired  apostle  ?  "  Know  ye  not  that  the  un- 
righteous shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God  ? 
Be  not  deceived :  neither  fornicators,  nor  idolaters, 
nor  adulterers,  nor  effeminate,  nor  abusers  of  them- 
selves with  mankind,  nor  thieves,  nor  covetous,  nor 
drunkards,  nor  revilers,  nor  extortioners,  shall  inherit 
the  kingdom  of  God." 

In  vain  are  we  total  abstainers  from  drink,  or  tem- 
perate in  drinking,  if  we  give  way  to  sin  in  some 
other  form,  lasciviousness,  dishonesty  in  business, 
gluttony,  idleness,  slandering  and  evil  speaking,  extra- 
vagance or  meanness,  anger,  hypocrisy,  or  self-conceit. 
"  Whosoever  shall  offend  in  one  point,  he  is  guilty  of 
alL"  We  must  mount  St.  Peter's  ladder  rung  by 
rung :  "  Giving  all  diligence,  add  to  your  faith  virtue ; 
and  to  virtue  knowledge;  and  to  knowledge  tem- 
perance ;  and  to  temperance  patience ;  and  to  patience 
godliness ;  and  to  godliness  brotherly  kindness ;  and 
to  brotherly  kindness  charity."  And  yet  another 
caution  is  given,  though  one  would  hardly  have 
anticipated  the  need,  namely,  that  he  who  by  joining 
a  new  society,  and  having  recourse  to  a  supplementary 


B2BLE   TEMPERANCE.  22$ 

system,  has  declared  that  his  exigency  cannot  be 
satisfied  by  the  ordinary  channels  of  grace,  must 
be  the  last  man  to  criticize  or  dictate  to  those  who, 
walking  in  the  old  paths  where  is  the  good  way, 
have  found  rest  for  their  souls.  He  has  lost  his 
liberty :  they  retain  theirs.  And  it  can  only  excite 
our  indignation  to  hear  one,  who  has  only  ceased  to 
be  a  drunkard  by  a  sudden  constraint,  assailing  a 
lifelong  temperance,  denouncing  those  who  will  not, 
at  his  bidding,  forego  that  which  they  believe  is 
given  to  them  by  God  for  their  enjoyment  and  use, 
because  he  has  abused  and  discarded  the  gift,  and 
is  deluding  himself  with  the  idea  that  he  has  reached 
a  much  higher  place  in  righteousness  than  those  who 
are  so  far  his  superiors.  Rather  let  him  fear  in  all 
humility,  "lest  the  dog  return  to  his  vomit  again, 
and  the  sow  to  her  wallowing  in  the  mire." 

In  his  evidence  before  a  Committee  of  the  London 
Diocesan  Conference,  the  chaplain  of  one  of  her 
Majesty's  prisons  said,  "  There  were  78,000  persons 
apprehended  in  one  year  (1882)  in  the  metropolitan 
district,  including  26,000  drunkards,"  and  he  added, 
"  it  is  rare  to  find  a  prisoner  who  has  not,  at  some 
time  or  other,  been  a  total  abstainer." 

'*  Let  him  that  thinketh  he  standeth  take  heed  lest 
he  fall,"  and  then  his  anxious  self-distrust  will  com- 
.  mand  the  pity  and  the  prayers  of  all  good  men.  The 
society  offers  this  pledge  of  total  abstinence  from 
intoxicating  drinks  to  those  who,  having  apprehen- 
sions of  peril  to  themselves,  think  to  find  an  additional 

Q 


226  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

security,  or  who  desire  by  the  aid  of  self-sacrifice  to 
set  an  example  to  others.  However  widely  we  may 
differ  from  their  method,  and  doubt  its  successful 
issue,  we  must  respect  and  honour  the  motives. 
Marriage  is  honourable  to  all,  and  was  ordained  as 
a  remedy  against  sin  and  to  avoid  fornication,  that 
such  persons  as  have  not  the  gift  of  continency  might 
marry  and  keep  themselves  undefiled  members  of 
Christ's  Body.  But  while  St.  Paul  writes,  "  Let  every 
man  have  his  own  wife,  and  every  woman  her  own 
husband,"  he  adds  (speaking  by  permission,  not  by 
commandment),  "  I  would  that  all  men  were  as  I 
myself,"  unmarried.  So  that  total  abstinence  from 
intoxicating  drinks  may  be  like  celibacy,  the  higher 
life,  and  our  Lord's  words  may  be  applicable  to 
both.  He  that  can  receive  it,  let  him  receive  it; 
but  the  cases  are  exceptional,  surrounded  by  subtle 
allurements,  and  occasions  of  falling,  abridgments  of 
the  liberty  wherewith  Christ  hath  made  us  free.  And 
to  him  who  would  press  such  vows  of  abstinence 
upon  others  who  are  not  only  unwilling  to  receive 
them,  but  are  convinced  that  in  their  case  they  would 
be  hurtful,  to  those  must  be  given  St.  Peter's  answer 
to  him  who  insisted  on  circumcision  for  the  Gentile 
converts,  "  God  has  given  them  the  Holy  Ghost ;  now 
therefore  why  trouble  ye  Him  to  put  a  yoke  upon 
the  neck  of  the  disciples  which  neither  our  fathers 
nor  we  were  able  to  bear  ?  But  we  believe  that 
through  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  we  shall 
be  saved,  even  as  they." 


BIBLE   TEMPERANCE,  227 

But  this  society  is  called  the  Church  of  England 
Temperance  Society,  and  it  is  for  the  promotion  of 
temperance  that  I  plead  most  heartily  to-night,  and 
ask  your  prayers  and  alms.     Bible  temperance.     For 
while  we  read  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  curse 
of  drunkenness,  with  all  its  foul  attendants  and  its 
disastrous   results,  from   the   time  when   Noah  was 
drunken,  and  his  sin  not  only  brought  disgrace  upon 
himself,  but  slavery  upon  his  son,  who  took  advantage 
of  it,  and  on  his  descendants,  just  as  now  this  sin  of 
drunkenness  is   visited   upon   the  third   and  fourth 
generation;  from  the  days  when  Lot's  drunkenness 
was  followed  by  the  vilest  of  sins,  to  the  time  when 
St.  Paul  warned  all  Christians  not  to  be  drunk  with 
wine  wherein  is  excess,  not  to  keep  company,  and 
not  to  eat  with  drunkards,  for  no  drunkard  could 
enter  heaven ;  and  St.  Paul's  Lord  and  ours  bade  us 
take  heed  to  ourselves,  lest  our  hearts  be  overcharged 
with  surfeiting  and  drunkenness,  and  so  that  day  of 
judgment  come  upon  us  unawares ;  and  again  spoke 
to  us  of  the  fearful  doom  of  the  evil  servant,  who 
because  his  lord  was  absent,  began  to  smite  his  fellow- 
servants  and   to  eat  and  drink  with  the  drunken; 
though  God's  people  were  forbidden  to  add  drunken- 
ness to  thirst ;  though  the  Nazarites  took  a  vow  of 
total  abstinence  from  wine  for  a  time,  after  which  it 
is  written  that  they  might  drink  wine ;  and  the  sons 
of  Jonadab  and  the  sons  of  Rechab  were  commanded 
not  to  drink  wine,  nor  build  houses,  nor  sow  seed, 
but  dwell  in  tents;  and  St.  John  the  Baptist  came 


228  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

neither  eating  nor  drinking ;  yet  we  read  in  the  same 
sacred  records  that,  under  the  Patriarchal  dispensa- 
tion, to  Abraham,  who  was  called  "  the  friend  of  God," 
Melchizedek,  King  of  Salem,  brought  forth  bread 
and  wine;  that  Isaac  included  among  the  blessings 
which  he  invoked  upon  Jacob,  "  God  give  thee  plenty 
of  corn  and  wine,"  and  that  he  said  of  Esau,  "  With 
corn  and  wine  have  I  sustained  him ; "  that  under  the 
Mosaic  dispensation  the  Land  of  Promise,  the  land 
which  was  the  glory  of  all  lands,  was  a  land  of  barley 
and  vines,  of  corn  and  wine,  for  the  grapes  were  not 
only  to  be  eaten  as  food,  but  to  be  put  into  the  wine- 
press and  used  as  wine ;  and  a  tithe  of  wine  was  given 
to  the  Levite,  and  all  men  were  permitted  to  drink  it, 
temperately  and  thankfully,  as  one  of  God's  temporal 
blessings,  to  their  refreshment  and  delectation. 

And  so  as  we  read  onward,  in  the  Book  of  Judofes, 
"That  when  the  trees  said  to  the  vine.  Come  thou 
and  reign  over  us,  the  vine  said  unto  them.  Should 
I  leave  my  wine,  which  cheereth  God  and  man  ? " 
(Judg.  ix.  12,  13).  We  find  the  man  after  God's  own 
heart,  who,  when  the  Ark  was  brought  back  from 
the  house  of  Obed-Edom,  dealt  to  every  one  of  Israel, 
both  man  and  woman,  a  loaf  of  bread,  a  piece  of  flesh, 
and  a  flagon  of  wine.  We  hear  him  speaking  of 
"wine  that  maketh  glad  the  heart  of  man;"  and 
Solomon,  his  son,  though  he  warns  us  against  them 
that  tarry  long  at  the  wine,  their  woes  and  their 
wounds,  yet  bids  us  to  "give  strong  drink  to  him 
that  is  ready  to  perish,  and  wine  to  those  that  be  of 


BIBLE   TEMPERANCE.  229 

heavy  hearts."  And  so  in  the  Prophets,  while  they 
warn  against  drunkenness,  they  speak  of  wine  jis 
a  blessing;  as  in  Hosea,  "The  Lord  shall  bless  the 
corn  and  the  wine ; "  in  Joel,  "  I  will  send  you  the 
corn  and  the  wine,  and  ye  shall  be  satisfied  with 
it ; "  and  in  Haggai  it  is  recorded  as  a  punishment, 
''  I  called  for  a  drought  upon  the  corn  and  the  wine." 
And  again,  "Go  thy  way,  eat  thy  bread  with  joy, 
and  drink  thy  wine  with  a  merry  heart;  for  God 
accepteth  thy  gifts."  So  in  the  Apocryphal  Books, 
which  "the  Church  doth  read  for  examples  of  life 
and  instruction  of  manners,"  we  find,  "Wine  is  as 
good  as  life  to  man,  if  it  be  drunk  moderately.  Wine 
measurably  drunk,  and  in  season,  bringeth  gladness 
of  the  heart,  and  cheerfulness  of  the  mind ;  but  wine 
drunken  with  excess  maketh  bitterness  of  the  mind, 
with  brawling  and  quarrelling." 

And  what  do  we  find  when  we  pass  from  the  Old 
to  the  New  Covenant ;  from  the  Law  to  the  Gospel  ? 
We  find  our  Divine  Master,  in  all  things  our  example, 
not  only  recognizing  the  right  use  of  wine  by  making 
it  the  example  of  His  spiritual  teaching,  referring  to 
it  with  a  commendation  of  those  who  know  how  best 
to  preserve  it;  but  w^e  hear  of  Him  as  eating  and 
drinking,  so  that  some  said,  "Behold  a  gluttonous 
man,  and  a  winebibber."  We  read  that  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  His  holy  mother,  who  evidently  had  not 
taught  Him  to  regard  wine  as  evil,  He  did  not  take 
the  opportunity  of  informing  the  wedding  guests  at 
Cana  that  the  water,  with  which  the  vessels  before 


230  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN, 

them  were  filled,  was  the  best  beverage  they  could 
drink,  but  He  sympathized  with  their  harmless  mirth 
and  made  the  water  wine.  They  were  eating  and 
drinking,  marrying  and  giving  in  marriage,  at  Cana 
of  Galilee,  but  thankfully  and  temperately,  in  the 
love  and  fear  of  the  Lord  (so  that  Jesus  was  invited, 
and  His  mother,  to  the  marriage),  and  so  there  came 
a  blessing  on  their  feast.  They  were  eating  and 
drinking,  marrying  and  giving  in  marriage,  in  the 
days  of  Noe,  from  mere  sensual  appetite  and  lust, 
and  the  flood  came  and  took  them  all  away. 

Let  me  add,  that  just  as  wine  was  used  religiously 
in  the  services  of  the  tabernacle  and  the  temple 
under  the  older  covenant,  so  our  blessed  Lord  chose 
wine  as  one  of  God's  creations,  to  be  sanctified  for 
ever  in  the  administration  of  the  Holy  Communion, 
and  said,  "  Drink  ye  all  of  this,"  and  thus  commanded 
it  to  be  received  by  all  His  faithful  in  every  age  and 
country  in  that  blessed  Sacrament,  even  till  He  comes 
ao'ain.  And  it  is  certain  that  at  the  institution  of 
the  Holy  Communion  our  Lord  used  wine  in  the 
common  use  of  the  term,  that  is,  a  fermented  beverage, 
which  would  intoxicate.  That  institution  took  place 
at  the  Passover,  and  the  Passover  took  place  in  the 
spring,  and  the  wine  then  used  must  have  been  nine 
months  old,  for  in  Palestine  the  vintage  takes  place 
in  September  and  October.  We  know  also  from 
Hebrew  authorities  that  the  wine  commonly  used  at 
Passover  was  such  as  would  intoxicate,  and  that  the 
same  use  still  continues  among  the  Jews. 


BIBLE   TEMPERANCE.  23 1 

We  practise  temperance,  not  trusting  for  a  moment 
in  our  own  strength,  or  in  any  human  precautions, 
but  in  the  grace  of  God,  given  to  us  first  in  Baptism, 
and  abundantly  shed  upon  us  by  Him  who  "giveth 
more  grace  " — above  all  to  the  humble.  And  as  we 
find  that  grace  suflScient  for  us  in  our  temptations, 
the  only  source  and  stay  of  our  spiritual  life,  let  us 
endeavour  to  bring  others  also  to  this  faith.  Having 
found  that  this  grace  has  delivered  and  delivers  us, 
and  made  the  service  of  God  perfect  freedom,  let 
us  seek  to  emancipate  others. 

Let  us  not  trust  in  coercive  legislation,  though  it 
may  help  and  ought  to  help  us.  Legal  restraints  over 
things  lawful  in  themselves  never  have  been  successful, 
and  never  will.  "  Men,"  says  a  great  authority,  "  are 
to  be  perfected,  not  by  exemption  from  temptation, 
but  by  victory  over  it."  Legislation  ought  to  make 
provisions  such  as  shall  ensure  decency  and  order 
in  our  public-houses,  and  surely  might  limit  their 
number ;  and  should,  in  my  opinion,  punish  drunken- 
ness with  a  much  more  painful  severity — for  who  is 
such  a  nuisance,  in  public  or  private  life,  who  so 
hinders  the  industry  and  prosperity  of  a  nation,  or 
the  peaceful  happiness  of  home,  as  the  drunkard  ? — 
but  it  cannot  prevent  the  determined  drinker  from 
drunkenness.  If  it  closes  the  public-houses  on  a 
Sunday,  he  will  purchase  his  drink  on  a  Saturday, 
and  get  drunk  at  home.  Better  education,  and  refine- 
ment of  taste,  will  do  much.  You  may  persuade  a 
man,  through  his  common  sense,  that  drunkenness  is 


232  ADDRESSES   TO    WORKING  MEN. 

ruinous  to  his  happiness,  self-respect,  and  health. 
You  may  persuade  landlords  that  sober  tenants  are 
better  guardians  of  property,  and  pay  rents  more 
regularly  than  drunkards.  You  may  provide  brighter 
homes,  with  more  light  and  air,  for  those  who  are 
brought  by  a  polluted  atmosphere  to  the  dram-shop — 
it  is  our  duty  to  them  and  to  God  to  do  so.  You 
may  provide  clubs  and  reading-rooms,  museums, 
galleries,  libraries,  gardens,  parks,  music,  and  games. 
I  believe  that  it  is  our  duty  to  do  so ;  but  all  these 
accessories,  precious  as  they  are,  are  but  the  heralds 
of  a  Royal  Presence,  the  preparations  to  receive  it; 
they  are  but  the  scaftblding  of  the  house  not  made 
with  hands. 

It  is  not  the  badge  on  the  breast,  or  the  blue  ribbon 
in  the  coat — it  is  the  grace  of  God  in  the  heart,  truth 
in  the  inward  parts,  which  thus  can  empower  to 
contend  with  evil,  and  win  that  crown  which  shall 
be  given  to  him  that  overcometh.  I  ask  you 
earnestly  to  support  the  Church  of  England  Tem- 
perance Society,  because  it  acts  upon  this  great 
principle  of  faith,  and,  while  it  appeals  for  all  the  help 
which  thought  and  money  can  give  it,  declares  that 
its  only  strength  is  in  its  consciousness  that,  in  pro- 
moting temperance,  it  is  seeking  to  do  God's  work,  and 
that  His  work  must  prosper  if  it  is  done  in  His  way. 


XV. 
■     TO   SOLDIERS. 

"  A  devout  soldier."— Acts  x.  7. 

Is  war  lawful  for  those — there  are  still  some  who 
ask  the  question — who  profess  a  religion  of  peace  ? 
Is  not  war  a  curse,  a  plague,  and  punishment  ?  Is  it 
not  written,  "  If  ye  walk  contrary  unto  Me,  then  will 
I  also  walk  contrary  unto  you,  and  will  punish  you, 
and  bring  a  sword  upon  you  "  ?  Is  not  that  sword 
named  first  of  the  sore  judgments  with  which  God 
threatens  the  disobedient?  Hath  not  God  said,  "Thou 
shalt  do  no  murder ; "  "  Whoso  sheddeth  man's  blood, 
by  man  shall  his  blood  be  shed ; "  "  He  that  smiteth  a 
man,  so  that  he  die,  shall  surely  be  put  to  death  "  ? 

The  answer  may  be  made — War,  with  certain  re- 
strictions, must  not  onl}^  be  lawful,  but  right,  because 
God's  chosen  people  were  a  nation  of  warriors,  led  by 
great  and  good  generals  such  as  Joshua,  "  and  Gideon, 
and  Barak,  and  Samson,  and  Jephthah,"  fighting 
against  God's  enemies,  and  encouraged  by  His 
ministers,  "  Hear,  0  Israel,  and  be  not  in  fear  of  your 
enemies,  for  the  Lord  your  God  fights  for  you ; "  nay, 


234  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

directly  by  God  himself,  for  the  Lord  said  unto 
Joshua,  "  Be  not  afraid  because  of  them,  for  to-morrow 
about  this  time  will  I  deliver  them  up  all  slain  before 
Israel." 

But  this  reply  will  evoke  a  further  question — Were 
there  not  in  the  Old  Testament  greater  latitudes  of 
permission  than  are  allowed  to  us  ?  Moses  made 
concessions  for  the  hardness  of  man's  heart.  Christ 
says  so,  and  He  is  the  Mediator  of  a  better  covenant. 
Have  not  old  things  passed  away  and  all  things 
become  new  under  the  Gospel?  Was  not  this  our 
Saviour's  teaching,  "  Ye  have  heard  that  it  hath  been 
said,  An  eye  for  an  eye,  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth  :  but 
I  say  unto  you.  Love  your  enemies  "  ?  Are  not  these 
the  words  of  Jesus,  "  Put  up  thy  sword  into  its  place, 
for  all  they  that  take  the  sword  shall  perish  with  the 
sword  "  ? 

And  we  find  that  this  argument  was  maintained, 
not  only  in  theory  but  in  practice,  in  the  first  three 
centuries  of  the  Christian  Church.  The  command- 
ment, that  "  the  servant  of  the  Lord  must  not  strive," 
was  applied  especially  to  military  service ;  no  Christian 
was  permitted  to  carry  arms. 

There  were  special  circumstances  which  added  force 
to  this  enactment.  Christians  seemed  for  a  time  to 
expect  from  Christianity  results,  which  had  not  only 
never  been  promised,  but  which  were  opposed  to  the 
declarations  and  prophecies  of  Christ.  They  seemed 
to  think  that  the  precepts  of  the  Gospel,  and  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  would  gradually  establish 


TO  SOLDIERS.  235 

universal  peace;  that  the  nations  would  beat  their 
swords  into  ploughshares,  and  their  spears  into  pruning 
hooks,  neither  should  they  learn  war  any  more. 

And  the  army  in  their  land  was  a  Roman  army, 
and  they  who  joined  were  not  only  under  Roman 
discipline,  but  compelled  to  conform  to  their  pagan 
worship,  and  to  take  part  in  pagan  sacrifice. 

Wherefore  we  find  some  of  the  most  saintly  writers 
of  that  early  period  protesting  against  military  service. 
"  Can  it  be  lawful,"  asks  Tertullian,  "  to  handle  the 
sword,  when  the  Lord  Himself  hath  declared  that  he 
who  useth  it  shall  perish  with  it  ?  Shall  the  child  of 
peace  engage  in  battle,  when  he  looks  upon  even  the 
strife  of  the  law-courts  as  unseemly  ?  Shall  he  who 
avenges  not  even  his  own  wrongs,  consign  others  to 
prison  and  torture  ? "  So  the  martyr  Maximilian,  "  I 
cannot  be  a  soldier,  because  I  am  a  Christian."  And 
one  of  the  greatest  of  the  Fathers,  Clement  of  Alex- 
andria, writes,  "  They  who  seek  peace  need  neither 
sword  nor  bow."  "We  cannot  fight  under  the 
emperor,"  said  Origen,  "  but  we  will  pray  for  him." 

But  as  time  went  on  both  these  considerations  lost 
their  power.  The  Cross  appeared  upon  the  standard 
of  Constantine,  in  place  of  the  Roman  eagles,  "  and 
they,  who  went  up  to  Rome  as  prisoners,  took  it  as 
conquerors."  The  Christian  soldier  followed  the 
symbol  of  his  Saviour  from  victory  to  victory. 

And  gradually  men  came  to  see  that  war  never 
had  been  forbidden  by  the  Founder  of  our  Holy 
Religion — that  it  was  still  a  necessity,  and  something 


236  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN, 

more.  They  perceived  that  our  Lord's  mission  was 
not  to  do  away  with  evil,  but  to  overcome  evil  with 
good ;  not  to  destroy  and  abolish,  but  repair,  enlighten, 
and  reform.  "  Be  ye  transformed  by  the  renewing  of 
your  mind." 

Of  course,  if  Christianity  was  held  by  all  men  in 
its  integrity,  there  could  be  no  more  war,  but  it  is  the 
religion  not  of  the  many  but  of  the  few.  Or  if  all 
nations  recognized  some  one  supreme  authority,  as 
we,  individually,  obey  the  laws  and  the  magistrates 
of  our  country,  then  there  might  be  universal  peace, 
But  the  tyranny  and  the  greed  of  those  who  disclaim 
all  spiritual  or  moral  obligations,  and  the  jealousy  of 
nations,  altogether  independent  of  each  other,  neces- 
sitate and  justify  both  defensive  and  offensive  war; 
defensive  to  resist,  and  offensive  to  punish.  "  When 
public  interests  are  violated,  when  kingdoms  and 
communities  of  men  and  princes  are  injured,  there  is 
no  law  to  defend  them,  and,  therefore,  it  must  be  by 
force  ;  force  is  the  defensation  of  all  laws ;  and  when 
all  laws  are  injured,  there  can  be  no  way  to  reduce 
men  to  reason  but  by  making  them  feel  the  evils  of 
unreasonableness.  And  why  should  not  justice  be 
done,"  South  asks,  in  his  quaint  straightforward  way, 
''  upon  a  company  of  malefactors,  defending  themselves 
with  arms,  as  well  as  upon  any  particular  thief  or 
murderer,  brought  shackled  and  disarmed  to  punish- 
ment ? "  War  becomes,  in  fact,  the  sole  means  of 
restoring  peace,  and  this  should  be  ever  its  main 
intent  and  ambition.     "  The  true  end  of  war  "  writes 


TO  SOLDIERS.  237 

Bishop  Sanderson,  "  which  only  can  warrant  it  lawful, 
we  all  know  is  the  necessary  preservation  of  a  common- 
wealth in  peace."  You  can  no  more  have  peace 
without  soldiers,  than  you  can  have  protection  of 
property  without  a  police. 

And  then,  the  forgotten  but  conclusive  argument, 
that  Christianity  not  only  tolerates,  but  sanctions 
the  profession  of  a  soldier,  was  remembered  and  main- 
tained, notably  by  that  illustrious  saint,  Augustine. 
In  his  letter  to  Marcellinus,  he  writes,  that  if  Chris- 
tianity demanded  the  condemnation  of  all  warfare, 
the  soldiers  of  the  New  Testament,  seeking  for  a 
knowledge  of  salvation,  would  have  been  directed  by 
our  Lord  to  throw  aside  their  arms  and  altogether 
renounce  their  profession.     But  what  do  we  find  ? 

What  has  God  been  pleased  to  tell  us  about  soldiers 
in  His  blessed  Book  ?  First,  we  meet  with  them  in 
that  wonderful  scene  on  the  banks  of  the  Jordan, 
when  a  vast  multitude  were  gathered  from  all  quarters 
and  from  all  classes,  high  and  low,  rich  and  poor, 
one  with  another,  to  hear  a  preacher ;  when  the  two 
greatest  nations  of  the  world,  the  chosen  people  and 
the  victorious  Romans,  were  listening  to  one  of  the 
noblest  and  bravest  of  God's  messengers,  forgetting 
all  their  pride,  and  their  learning,  and  their  power,  as 
he  bade  them  repent  of  their  sins  and  seek  salvation 
in  the  coming  Christ ;  and  when  he  ceased,  there 
came  forth  from  that  strange  crowd,  as  from  a  single 
heart,  the  cry,  "Master,  what  shall  we  do?"  The 
people  asked  it,  and  their  rulers  asked  it,  and  the 


238  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

soldiers  likewise  demanded  it  of  him,  saying,  "And 
what  shall  we  do  ? "  There  was  no  word  in  dis- 
paragement of  their  vocation,  only  to  show  them  how 
to  exercise  it  rightly,  and  to  give  them  simple  rules. 
Do  violence  to  no  man,  do  not  transgress  the  first 
requirements  of  your  duty — be  brave,  but  generous 
to  a  fallen  foe.  Boast  not  that  thou  canst  do  mis- 
chief. Leave  off  from  wrath,  and  let  go  displeasure. 
Accuse  none  falsely.  Let  there  be  no  wars  of  might 
against  right.  No  false  pretexts  for  concealing  covet- 
ousness,  for  gaining  larger  dominions,  greater  power 
among  the  nations.  And  he  content  with  your  wages. 
Do  your  duty,  because  God  has  given  it  you  to  do. 
Fight  for  truth  and  justice,  not  for  lucre. 

But  they,  who  obey  the  bidding  of  the  messenger, 
have  ever  the  approbation  of  the  Master,  who  sends 
the  message.  And  where  vshall  we  find  a  more  beau- 
tiful example  of  faith,  and  of  the  true  encouragement 
and  reward  which  follow  it,  than  in  the  history  of 
that  soldier,  which  is  recorded  in  the  seventh  chapter 
of  St.  Luke's  Gospel  ?  He  seems  to  have  been  one 
of  those  thoughtful,  observant,  large-hearted,  unselfish 
men,  whom  God  enlightens  more  and  more  with  the 
knowledge  of  His  truth.  Though  he  was  an  alien 
to  the  commonwealth  of  Israel — a  Gentile,  and  not 
a  Jew — he  was  evidently  a  religious  man.  For  we 
must  remember  that  though  the  natural  man  dis- 
cemeth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit,  and  the  carnal 
mind  is  enmity  against  God,  yet  He  hath  not  left 
Himself  without  witness  in  any  human  heart;  they 


TO  SOLDIERS,  239 

that  have  not  the  law,  are  a  law  unto  themselves ; 
and  if  there  be  first  a  willing  mind,  it  is  accepted 
according  to  that  a  man  hath,  and  not  according  to 
that  he  hath  not.  In  all  false  religions  there  is  some 
truth,  and  they  who  follow  the  gleam,  go  upwards  to 
a  clearer  light.  And  so  this  soldier,  having  loved 
what  was  best  in  the  religion  which  he  learned  at 
Rome,  having  been  "faithful  in  a  few  things,"  per- 
ceived, when  he  came  to  Judsea,  that  God  had  showed 
unto  the  Jews  a  more  excellent  way;  and  he  loved 
them,  we  are  told,  and  built  them  a  synagogue ;  and 
when  he  met  with  truth  itself  in  the  Person  of  our 
blessed  Lord,  heard  Him  speak  as  never  man  spake, 
and  saw  Him  do  the  works  of  His  Father,  he  was 
prepared  to  acknowledge  His  Divine  power  in  all 
humility  :  "  Lord,  I  am  not  worthy  that  Thou  shouldest 
come  under  my  roof ;  "  nor  is  it  necessary,  "  for  Thou 
canst  do  all  things."  "  Speak  the  word  only."  "  And 
Jesus  said,  I  tell  you,  I  have  not  found  so  great  faith, 
no,  not  in  Israel/' 

And,  again,  in  that  tremendous  scene  on  Calvary, 
when  those  unbelieving  Jews,  with  a  blindness 
blacker  than  the  darkness  which  spread  over  the 
sufferings  of  the  Redeemer,  with  hearts  harder  than 
the  earth  which  quaked  and  the  rocks  which  were 
rent,  refused  to  acknowledge  the  Divine  presence  in 
the  human  form ;  when  they  who  had  murdered 
Him  smote  their  breasts  and  left  Him — it  was  a 
soldier's  voice  which  made  that  brave  proclamation, 
'*'  Truly  this  man  was  the  Son  of  God  ! " 


240  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

One  more  example — a  certain  man  in  Csesarea, 
called  Cornelius,  a  centurion,  an  officer  in  command 
of  a  hundred  men,  a  devout  man,  and  one  that  feared 
God  with  all  his  house,  which  gave  much  alms  to  the 
people,  and  prayed  to  God  always,  and  to  whom, 
when  he  was  fasting,  an  angel  appeared  to  announce 
that  his  prayer  was  heard,  because  "  on  the  wings 
of  fasting  and  alms,  holy  prayer  infallibly  mounts  to 
Heaven." 

Is  it  not  quite  plain  from  these  considerations  that 
the  military  vocation  is  an  indispensable  necessity, 
in  a  world  so  largely  influenced  by  pride,  envy,  and 
injustice;  and  that  it  must  continue  to  be  so  until 
the  Holy  Spirit  shall  have  dominion,  absolute  and 
universal,  and  overcome  evil  with  good  ?  More  than 
this;  have  we  not  manifest  proof  that  the  life  of 
a  soldier,  environed  though  it  be  with  manifold 
temptations,  and  so  in  peril  of  fatal  abuses,  has 
within  its  reach  the  complete  attainment  of  all  those 
virtues  and  graces,  which  ennoble  and  consecrate 
manhood  by  fulfilling  the  designs  of  God  ? 

Who  are  they  who,  in  these  days,  are  realizing 
their  manhood  ?  Who  are  they  of  whom  England  is 
justly  proud  ?  The  men  who  in  distant  lands  bear 
the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day,  falling  out  of  the 
ranks  smitten  with  sunstroke,  surprised  and  slain, 
risking  their  lives  for  a  cause  which  they  believe  to 
be  just  ?  or  they  who,  in  the  prime  of  their  strength, 
are  shooting  pigeons  out  of  traps  for  money — lounging 
about  a  club  without  one  unselfish  purpose  ? 


TO  SOLDIERS,  24 1 

It  may  perhaps  be  said,  *'  You  are  selecting  the 
best  phase  of  war,  and  contrasting  it  with  the  worst 
phase  of  peace."  But  it  seems  to  me  fair  to  do  this, 
because  men  can  choose,  and  do  choose,  between 
them.  The  comparison  suggests  others.  Shakespeare 
writes — 

"  Grim-visaged  war  hath  smoothed  his  wrinkled  front ; 
And  now,  instead  of  mounting  barbed  steeds 
To  fright  the  souls  of  fearful  adversaries, 
He  capers  nimbly  in  a  lady's  chamber 
To  the  lascivious  pleasing  of  a  lute." 

Which  is  the  nobler  man  ?  "  Who  can  say  that 
more  sin  is  not  committed  every  day  in  every 
capital  of  Europe  than  in  the  largest  field  of 
battle  ? " 

Is  it  not  in  the  stern  school  of  war,  rather  than 
in  the  school  of  peace,  that  men  the  oftener  learn  the 
obligation  and  success  of  Duty  ?  to  accept  it,  to  think 
of  it,  to  speak  of  it,  to  perform  it,  as  over  all  things 
else  supreme  ?  Is  not  Duty  the  light  and  the 
strength  which  makes  the  life  of  a  soldier  so  grand 
and  true  ?  By  reason  as  by  revelation,  by  history, 
by  our  own  experience,  we  are  taught  that,  both  as 
regards  this  world  and  the  next,  "  the  path  of  duty 
is  the  road  to  glory."  Who  wrote  those  words  ?  He 
who  wore  the  laurel  crown  among  our  poets,  when  he 
mourned  the  death  of  the  foremost  captain  of  his 
time,  the  Great  General  "  who  won  a  hundred  fights, 
and  never  lost  an  English  gun,"  whose  one  rule  of 
Jife  was  Duty — Wellington. 

It  is  recorded  that  on  the  night  before  his  decisive 


242  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

victory,  on  the  eve  of  Waterloo,  Lord  Uxbridge,  the 
chief  of  his  staff,  was  very  anxious  as  to  his  plans  for 
the  morrow,  and  ventured  to  ask  the  Duke  for  infor- 
mation as  to  his  designs ;  the  answer  which  he  re- 
ceived was  this, "  My  design  is  to  conquer  the  enemy." 
But  when  the  Duke  saw  that  this  did  not  satisfy,  he 
added,  "  I  cannot  give  you  details,  because  these  de- 
pend so  much  on  the  tactics  of  Buonaparte ;  but  one 
thing  is  sure,  Uxbridge,  you  and  I  will  do  our  duty." 
And  he  is  reported  to  have  said  to  a  clergyman  who 
spoke  despondingly  of  missions  to  the  heathen, "  What 
is  that  to  you  ?  What  are  your  marching  orders  ? 
'  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to 
every  creature/  "  Do  your  Duty. 
So  another  of  our  heroes — 

"  Along  the  line  the  signal  ran, 
'  England  expects  that  every  man 
This  day  will  do  his  Duty.' " 

And  where  shall  we  find  a  more  touching,  teaching 
epitaph  than  this :  "  Here  lies  Henry  Lawrence,  who 
tried  to  do  his  Duty  "  ? 

It  may  be  urged — This  sense  of  duty  and  service 
is  not  necessarily  connected  with  Christianity,  and  is 
often  found  in  those  who  never  even  heard  of  Christ. 
For  example  :  Among  the  skeletons  discovered  by  the 
excavators  at  Pompeii,  that  wicked  city  which,  like 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  and  for  the  same  sins,  was 
destroyed  by  fire,  there  was  one  of  a  sentinel,  standing 
erect  on  guard,  while  the  positions  of  all  around 
showed  their  attempts  to  escape   and  their  agonies 


TO  SOLDIERS.  243 

of  terror.  The  incident  has  been  most  impressively 
treated  by  a  master  of  pictorial  art,  and  the  picture 
is  in  one  of  the  public  galleries  at  Liverpool.  The 
soldier  stands,  with  the  lurid  light  from  the  flaming 
furnace  of  the  volcano  on  his  face,  looking  upwards, 
with  the  awful  yet  beautiful  expression  of  one  who 
has  made  up  his  mind  to  sacrifice  life  to  duty. 
Under  the  picture  is  written,  "  Faithful  unto  death." 
But  Duty  is  religion;  there  is  faithful,  prayerful, 
hopeful  religion  in  that  noble  face  ;  there  is  the  appeal 
to  Divine  justice,  to  the  Helper  of  all  that  trust  Him. 
And  so  with  all  true  heroism.  Men  will  brave  danger 
and  face  death  and  fight  fiercely  from  mere  physical 
excitements — from  despair,  for  revenge,  or  gain ;  just 
as  Napoleon,  once  called  the  Great,  was  for  a  time 
a  mighty  conqueror,  though  actuated  only  by  a  selfish 
ambition,  cruel  and  sensual,  and  therefore  in  the  end 
a  failure  ;  but  all  the  grand  acts  of  calm  and  supreme 
bravery  have  been  done  by  men  of  high  and  honest 
ambitions,  from  the  religious  instinct,  from  the  love 
of  that  which  was  pure  and  sacred,  and  the  hatred 
of  that  which  was  false  and  mean.  "Pro  aris  et 
focis  " — "  For  our  Altars  and  Hearths  " — was  inscribed 
upon  the  banners  of  ancient  valour. 

"  How  can  a  man  die  better 
Than  facing  fearful  odds, 
For  the  homesteads  of  his  fathers 
And  the  altars  of  his  gods?" 

And  just  in  proportion  as  those  principles  of  virtue 
and  religion  approximate  to  the  truth,  as  God  has 


244  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

revealed  it  to  us,  so  is  the  attainment  of  true  heroism 
more  or  less  possible ;  and  to  that  soldier  who  is  "  a 
good  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ/'  it  may  be  said,  as 
history  shows,  "  Many  have  done  virtuously,  but 
thou  excellest  them  all." 

For  two  reasons :  he  has  the  noblest  example,  the 
example  of  Christ,  set  before  him ;  and  he  has  Divine 
help  wherewith  to  copy  it,  for  he  fights  with  the 
power,  and  in  the  presence,  of  his  Chief.  Kegard, 
for  instance,  that  quality,  which  is  so  admirable  in 
all  men,  and  so  essential  to  the  soldier  that  it  is 
regarded  as  a  matter  of  course — I  mean  true  courage. 

I  say  true  courage,  because  there  are  counterfeits, 
imperfect  presentations.  You  cannot  be  truly,  con- 
sistently, unfailingly  brave,  unless  you  are  brave 
from  the  highest  principles.  "  It  is  not  always  from 
valour,"  writes  the  French  cynic,  "  that  men  are 
valiant."  There  are  hundreds  who  will  do  daring 
acts  in  moments  of  excitement,  and  with  spectators 
to  applaud,  who  are  very  cowards  when  they  have  to 
meet  peril  in  cold  blood,  as  we  term  it,  with  none 
to  applaud,  and  no  visible  advantage,  no  prize,  to 
gain.  There  is  often  no  small  amount  of  fear  in  that 
which  looks  like  courage — fear  of  loss,  and  fear  of 
ridicule.  Men  foremost  in  great  and  formidable 
enterprises  have  been  known  to  show  a  childish 
dread  of  bodily  pain ;  fearless  leaders  and  magniloquent 
orators  have  seemed  to  lose  heart  and  nerve  at  the 
first  approach  of  sickness. 

We  want  a  truer  courapje  than  this.     We  want  a 


TO  SOLDIERS.  245 

courage  which  is  always  brave — brave  in  difficulties, 
brave  in  defeat,  brave  in  bereavements,  brave  in 
death.  We  want  a  courage  which  knows  "what  a 
noble  thing  it  is  to  suffer  and  be  strong."  From 
whom  shall  we  learn  it  ?  From  those  brave  soldiers 
of  the  Cross,  who  believed  that  to  die  was  gain. 
Above  all,  from  the  great  Captain  of  our  salvation, 
who  never  turned  to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left 
in  His  obedience  to  the  will  of  His  Father ;  who  set 
His  face  steadfastly  to  go  to  Jerusalem,  to  Geth- 
semane,  to  Calvary ;  who  rose  up  from  that  tremendous 
Agony,  and  said  calmly  to  the  Apostles,  "  Let  us  be 
going  :  lo,  he  is  at  hand  that  doth  betray  Me." 

And  so  through  the  ages,  in  all  history,  the  greatest 
heroes  of  the  world  have  been  God's  heroes;  the 
greatest  soldiers,  as  a  rule,  have  been  soldiers  of 
the  Cross.  From  Cornelius  to  Charlemagne,  who 
conquered  and  regenerated  Western  Europe;  from 
Charlemagne  to  St.  Louis,  and  our  own  royal  soldier, 
"  Harry  the  King,"  receiving  the  sacrament  before 
the  victory  at  Agincourt;  from  those  days  to  that 
great  victory  at  Trafalgar,  when  Collingwood  wrote, 
"  The  Almighty  God,  whose  arm  is  strength,  having 
of  His  great  mercy  been  pleased  to  crown  the  exer- 
tions of  His  Majesty's  fleet  with  complete  success; 
and  in  order  that  all  praise  and  thanksgiving  may 
be  offered  to  Him,  I  have  thought  proper  that  a 
day  should  be  appointed  of  general  humiliation  and 
thanksgiving,  for  imploring  the  forgiveness  of  our 
sins,  and  a  continuation  of  that   merciful  goodness 


246  ADDRESSES   TO    WORKING  MEN. 

without  which  the  utmost  efforts  of  man  are  nought ; " 
— from  that  time  to  this,  the  great  warriors,  as  a 
rule,  by  land  and  sea,  have  been  earnest  Christians. 

"  Their  praise  is  hymned  by  loftier  harps  than  mine, 
Yet  one  I  would  select  from  that  great  throng." 

One  of  the  greatest  Christian  heroes  that  ever 
lived,  Gordon !  Henceforth  that  name  shall  be  spoken 
throughout  the  nations  as  one  of  the  grandest  and 
the  sweetest  in  history.  It  shall  sound  like  sublime 
music,  like  a  glorious  roll  of  drums,  like  a  march 
played  on  silver  trumpets,  in  the  barrack  and  the 
camp,  in  the  trench,  the  fort,  and  the  zareba ;  and  in 
quiet  homes,  and  in  the  sanctuary  itself,  it  shall  be 
"  as  a  very  lovely  song  of  one  who  hath  a  pleasant 
voice,  and  playeth  well  on  an  instrument."  That  name 
is  a  heritage  and  possession — a  gift  which  "cannot 
be  gotten  for  gold,  neither  can  silver  be  weighed  for 
the  price  thereof" — to  England  and  to  her  Church 
for  ever.  When  all  the  theories  of  a  proud  philo- 
sophy, the  schemes  of  the  sciolist,  and  the  railing 
accusations  of  the  sceptic  are  forgotten,  that  name 
shall  declare  to  generations  yet  to  come  the  triumphs 
of  a  simple  faith,  and  shall  speak  to  them  of  that 
Rock  of  Ages,  against  which  "  those  raging  waves  of 
the  sea,  foaming  out  their  own  shame,"  have  tossed 
themselves  in  vain.  When  "the  boast  of  heraldry, 
the  pomp  of  power,  and  all  that  beauty,  all  that 
wealth,  e'er  gave,"  has  vanished,  that  name  shall  speak 
of  an  inheritance]  incorruptible,  undefiled,  and  that 
fadeth  not  away,  of  thrones  in  heaven,  of  an  angel's 


TO  SOLDIERS.  247 

glory,  of  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ.  When 
men  are  in  anxious  quest  of  happiness,  yearning  for 
some  noble  purpose  which  shall  give  to  life  its  true 
ambition,  and  to  manhood  its  divine  work — when 
they  are  seeking,  where  they  cannot  find ;  when 
money  says,  "  It  is  not  in  me,"  and  pleasure  says,  "  It 
is  not  in  me,"  and  honour  says,  "  I  cannot  give  it,"  and 
knowledge  says,  "  I  cannot  learn  it " — that  name  shall 
remind  men  that  the  kingdom  of  God  is  joy  and 
peace,  and  that  he,  whose  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in 
God,  can  be  quite  happy  when  he  is  surrounded  by 
his  enemies,  and  all  earthly  hopes  are  gone.  And 
when  men's  hearts  are  failing  them,  as  they  are 
drawing  nearer  and  nearer  to  death ;  when  they  cry 
with  the  Psalmist,  "  My  heart  is  disquieted  within  me, 
and  the  fear  of  death  is  fallen  upon  me,  fearfulness 
and  trembling  are  come  upon  me,  and  a  horrible  dread 
hath  overwhelmed  me  ; " — then  shall  the  example  of 
Gordon  teach  how  '*  perfect  love  casteth  out  fear." 

When  it  was  said  to  him,  "  You  know  I  may  kill 
you  for  this  ? "  "I  do  not  fear  death,"  was  the 
reply.  "No  difficulties,"  wrote  Archibald  Forbes, 
"  will  abate  his  loyal  courage ;  no  thought  of 
adversity  will  daunt  his  gallant  heart.  For  him 
life  has  no  ambition,  and  death  no  terror."  On  the 
contrary,  he  desired,  in  God's  good  time,  to  die.  He 
told  one  of  his  most  intimate  friends  that  "  he  could 
not  think  of  the  joys  of  hereafter  without  longing 
for  death."  "  Oh  for  that  home,"  he  sighed,  "  where 
the  wicked  cease  from  troubling,  and  the  weary  are 


248  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

at  rest ;  when  the  good  fight  will  have  been  fought, 
the  dusty  labour  finished,  and  the  crown  of  life  giren  ; 
when  our  eyes  will  behold  the  only  One  that  ever 
knew  our  sorrows  and  trials,  and  has  borne  with  us 
in  them  all,  soothing  and  comforting  our  weary  souls ! 
.  .  .  We  are  nearing  it  day  by  day.  '  I  heard  a  Toico 
from  heaven  saying  unto  me.  Write,  From  henceforth 
happy  are  the  dead  that  die  in  the  Lord :  even  so, 
saith  the  Spirit,  for  they  rest  from  their  labours ' — 
from  troubles  and  tears,  from  sad  sights  of  poor 
despairing  bodies  and  sighing  hearts,  who  find  no 
peace  in  their  prisons — from  wars  and  strifes  of 
words  and  judgments.  It  is  a  long,  weary  journey, 
but  we  are  well  on  the  way  of  it.  The  yearly  mile- 
stones slip  quickly  by,  and  as  our  days  so  will  our 
strength  be.  Perhaps,  before  another  milestone  is 
reached,  the  wayfarer  may  be  in  that  glorious  Home, 
beside  of  the  Kiver  of  Life,  where  there  is  no  more 
care,  nor  sorrow,  nor  crying — at  rest  for  ever  with 
that  kind  and  well-known  Friend." 

Whence  had  Gordon  this  marvellous  power,  abroad 
and  at  home — with  nations  and  private  persons, 
with  subtle  diplomatists  and  simple  folk,  with  poten- 
tates and  pashas,  rulers  and  statesmen,  and  with 
ragged  boys  in  the  street  ?  When  he  was  living  at 
Gravesend,  those  lads  traced  with  chalk  "  God  bless 
the  Kernel "  on  the  palings  opposite  his  house ;  and 
Mr.  Power  tells  us  from  Khartoum,  "When  he  goes  out- 
of-doors  there  are  always  crowds  of  Arabs — men  and 
women — at  the  gate  to  kiss  his  feet.     He  is  dictator 


TO  SOLDIERS,  249 

here,  and  it  is  wonderful  that  one  man  can  have  such 
power  over  two  hundred  thousand  people.  They  ask 
him  to  touch  their  children  to  cure  them.  They  call 
him  father  and  saviour.  He  is,  I  believe,  the  greatest 
and  best  man  of  this  century." 

Whence  this  influence  ?  No  man  can  read  his 
history  without  the  conviction  that  the  source  and 
support  of  his  power  was  faith — not  the  miserable 
unscriptural  counterfeit  which  says,  "I  believe,  and 
that's  enough;"  which  says,  "I  went  to  that  prayer- 
meeting,  I  sat  down  to  hear  that  sermon,  a  rejected 
sinner,  and  I  came  home  an  accepted  saint ; "  but  the 
only  true  faith — the  " faith  which  ivorheth  hy  love" 
This  brought  him  into  spiritual  communion  with  God. 
He  knew  that  God  was  with  him  and  in  him,  and 
"  this,"  he  said,  "  gave  him  superhuman  strength." 

How  did  he  keep  that  presence  in  his  soul  ?  that 
faith  ?  that  love  ?  By  prayer.  "Ask  God,"  he  says, 
"  to  show  you  Himself,  for  Christ's  sake,  and  He  will 
soon  do  so."  There  were  times  when  a  white  hand- 
kerchief was  to  be  seen  spread  before  the  entrance 
of  Gordon's  tent.  No  man,  however  high  his  position 
or  important  his  errand,  was  to  intrude  while  it 
remained.     The  General  was  on  his  knees  in  prayer. 

His  delight  was  in  the  law  of  the  Lord,  and  in 
searching  the  Holy  Scriptures.  He  could  truly  say, 
"  Thy  Word  is  a  lamp  unto  my  feet,  and  a  light  unto 
my  path."  "  Bibles  abound,"  he  said,  "  but  when  we 
consider  that  all  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of 
God — for  instruction  in  righteousness — are  they  read 


2  so  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

and  studied  as  they  ought  to  be  ?  It  is  said  that 
man  shall  live  by  every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of 
the  mouth  of  God — we  don't  forget  the  daily  meals 
for  the  body,  but  we  starve  our  souls.  May  it  not 
be  the  reason,"  he  asks,  "  that  there  are  so  many 
differences  of  opinion  on  religion  that  commentaries 
and  other  writings  of  men  are  studied  instead  of  the 
Word  of  God  ?  ^Yedo  err,  not  knowing  the  Scriptures!  " 
Again,  Gordon  sought  and  found  in  deeds  of  mercy 
that  Saviour  who  will  one  day  say  to  him,  "  Inasmuch 
as  ye  did  it  to  one  of  the  least  of  these  My  brethren  " 
— My  brethren  in  sorrow  and  want  and  pain — "ye 
have  done  it  unto  Me."  And  so  we  read  that  his 
house  at  Gravesend  was  school  and  almshouse  and 
hospital  in  turn.  The  troubles  of  all  interested  him 
alike.  The  poor,  the  rich,  the  unfortunate,  were  always 
welcome.  Many  children  he  rescued  from  the  streets, 
cleansed,  clothed,  fed,  and  taught  them.  We  hear  of 
him — this  ruler  of  nations,  this  mighty  man  of 
valour — finding  a  poor  woman,  sick  and  starving,  in 
a  miserable  home,  with  his  own  hands  lighting  a  fire, 
preparing  and  administering  food.  And  Mr.  Hake 
relates  of  him  how,  when  travelling  in  the  Soudan, 
he  distributed  grain  to  the  hungry  and  gave  employ- 
ment to  the  needy,  the  poor  negroes  crowding  round 
him.  Yes,  "  the  blessing  of  him  that  was  ready  to 
perish  came  upon  him,  and  he  caused  the  widow's 
heart  to  sing  for  joy."  He  kept  the  child's  heart  in 
the  brave  man's  breast.  For  his  love  was  real,  the 
first  fruit  of  the  Holy  Spirit  within  him. 


TO  SOLDIERS.  2$ I 

It  was  not  that  sham  "charity  "  which  gives  pence 
to  the  needy  and  spends  pounds  in  self-indulgence, 
grudges  a  shilling  to  an  offertory  and  loses  five  pounds 
on  a  race ;  not  that  poor  sentimental  charity  which  sits 
by  the  fireside  and  sighs  over  the  sorrows  which  it  reads 
in  the  newspapers,  but  gives  nothing  beyond  the  sigh ; 
not  that  ostentatious  charity  which  does  its  alms  to 
be  seen  of  men,  which  loves  the  praise  of  men  rather 
than  the  praise  of  God,  and  makes  the  giver,  as 
Bishop  Wilson  says,  a  greater  beggar  than  he  to  whom 
he  gives.  His  was  not  that  sentimental  charity  which 
can  only  be  induced  to  interest  itself  in  some  special 
case  of  picturesque  afliiction — the  pretty  little  orphan, 
the  consumptive  maiden,  the  silver-headed  old  man. 
No,  his  love,  like  his  Master's,  was  for  all — his  heart 
was  with  the  poor.  Think  of  him,  when  you  give 
your  alms  to-day  for  the  Hospital  and  Schools  at 
Wimbledon. 

But  it  may  surprise  many  to  be  told  that  the  noble 
life  which  Gordon  lived  on  earth — in  the  world,  but 
not  of  it — derived  its  grand  power  and  purpose  from 
the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  the  Holy  Com- 
munion of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ. 

Listen  to  Gordon's  words  :  "  I  think  that  by  taking 
the  Communion  in  a  proper  frame — that  is,  with  desire 
to  sin  no  more,  to  be  holy,  to  be  at  peace  with  all 
men — in  some  peculiar  way  we  are  strengthened  by 
a  communication  from  our  Lord,  and  that  a  far  closer 
union  arises  than  from  any  other  means.  The  effect 
of  taking  into  our  material  body  His  flesh  and>l^^[^-^^ 

■^    ^^    OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


252  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

is  this :  Christ  was  manifested  to  destroy  the  works 
of  the  Devil,  or  flesh ;  therefore  the  incorporation  of 
His  flesh  and  blood  into  our  material  body  must  tend 
to  the  same  end. 

"  It  is  remarkable  to  contrast  the  Divine  command 
to  Adam,  '  Thou  shalt  not  eat/  with  the  Divine  com- 
mand to  Adam's  progeny,  'Take,  eat.'  Adam's  dis- 
obedience to  God's  simple  command  not  to  eat  brought 
sin  and  death.  Obedience  to  Jesus  Christ's  simple 
command,  '  Eat,'  this  gives  righteousness  and  heaven. 
By  eating  came  death  to  the  body,  by  eating  comes 
life  to  the  soul. 

"And  hence  it  is  that  so  many  Christians  are  low- 
spirited,  and  limp  through  the  world!  They  find 
themselves  weighed  down  by  the  corruptions  of  their 
bodies ;  they  heap  service  on  service ;  they  visit  the 
poor;  but  they  disregard  the  Lord's  words — their 
bodies  are  not  acted  on  by  their  partaking  in  faith 
of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ. 

"  I  cannot  repeat  it  too  often,  that  as  the  body  was 
poisoned  by  the  eating  of  a  fruit,  so  it  must  be  cured 
from  its  malady  by  absorbing  an  antidote.  Why  is 
the  Sacrament  neglected  ? " 

Soldiers,  be  assured  of  this,  that  the  ascensions  of 
courage  are  the  ascensions  of  faith,  and  that  the  bravest 
are  purest  in  heart. 

It  is  a  hard  battle  which  we  have  all  to  fight,  but 
it  is  fought  in  the  presence  of  the  great  Captain  of  our 
salvation,  and  we  shall  hear,  if  we  will  only  listen, 
His  precious  encouragements. 


TO  SOLDIERS.  253 

Let  us  pray,  my  brothers,  "Lord,  increase  our 
faith,"  that  we  may  evermore  rejoice  in  that  holy 
Presence,  and  may  remember  always  our  solemn 
promise,  when  we  were  enlisted  at  our  Baptism  into 
the  army  of  Jesus,  that  we  would  never  be  ashamed 
to  confess,  not  with  our  lips  only,  but  in  our  lives,  the 
faith  of  Christ  crucified,  manfully  to  fight  under  His 
banner  against  sin,  the  world,  and  the  devil,  and  to 
continue  Christ's  faithful  soldier  and  servant  unto  our 
life's  end. 

What  would  you  say  of  the  soldier  who  deserted 
from  the  ranks  on  the  approach  of  the  enemy,  or  who 
betrayed  his  comrades  for  a  bribe  ?  What  think  you 
of  "  the  children  of  Ephraim,  who,  being  harnessed 
and  carrying  bows,  turned  themselves  back  in  the 
day  of  battle"? 

We  talk  of  men  disgracing  their  profession,  their 
regiment,  their  uniform ;  what,  then,  shall  we  say  of 
those  who,  called  to  be  God's  heroes,  saints,  and  angels, 
disobey,  forsake  the  Captain  of  their  salvation,  join 
the  armies  of  Antichrist,  and  perish,  like  Balaam, 
fighting  with  the  troops  of  Midian  against  the  people 
of  the  Lord  ? 

We  must  "  endure  hardness  as  good  soldiers  of  Jesus 
Christ,"  and  he  that  endureth  shall  be  saved.  The 
chariots  and  horses  of  the  Syrians  surround  Dothan, 
but  "  the  chariots  of  God  are  twenty  thousand,  even 
thousands  of  angels,"  and  "  they  that  be  with  us  are 
more  than  they  that  be  with  them." 

My  brothers^  the  last  bugle-call  will  soon  summon 


254  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN, 

the  armies  of  the  world,  whether  they  have  fought 
for  good  or  evil,  conquerors  and  cowards,  for  the  great 
march  past  before  the  throne  of  God.  For  it  is 
written,  "  The  trumpet  shall  sound,  and  the  dead  shall 
be  raised,  and  we  must  all  appear  before  the  judgment- 
seat  of  Christ."  Oh,  think  what  it  will  be,  if  it  makes 
the  heart  rejoice  with  a  righteous  joy  to  win  the  prizes 
of  earth — think  what  it  will  be  to  have  won,  through 
Christ,  the  glorious  prizes  of  God ! 

They  tell  us,  who  saw,  that  no  more  impressive 
spectacle  was  ever  seen  in  England  than  when  our 
beloved  Queen  publicly  thanked  and  decorated  her 
soldiers  on  their  return  from  the  Crimean  War.  Think, 
then,  what  it  will  be,  when  a  beautiful  crown  from 
the  Lord's  hand  shall  be  given  to  him  that  overcometh, 
to  every  true  soldier  of  the  Cross ;  and  the  redeemed 
shall  come  with  singing  unto  Zion,  and  this  anthem 
shall  ring  through  universal  space,  "  The  kingdoms 
of  this  world  are  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord 
and  of  His  Christ,  and  He  shall  reign  for  ever  and 
ever ! " 


XVI. 

WHO  IS  A  GENTLEMAN  ? 

Who  is  a  gentleman  ?  What  is  a  gentleman  ?  There 
never  was  a  time  when  this  title  was  so  commonly 
claimed  and  conceded.  Who  has  a  right  to  it? 
What  makes  a  gentleman  ? 

First,  we  hear  of  "  gentlemen  by  birth,"  and  "  men 
of  gentle  blood."  There  is  no  such  being  as  a  gentle- 
man by  birth.  The  father  may  be  a  gentleman,  and 
the  mother  "  a  lady,"  but  it  does  not  follow  that  their 
son  will  be  a  gentleman.  He  has  many  advantages — 
"  the  lot  is  fallen  unto  him  in  a  fair  ground,  and  he 
hath  a  goodly  heritage  ;  "  and  it  should  be  a  great 
educational  help  to  be  surrounded  from  the  first  with 
so  much  that  is  bright  and  beautiful,  both  in  nature 
and  art,  with  things  pleasant  to  the  eye  and  good  for 
food,  unknown  in  the  dwellings  of  the  poor.  But  we 
know  that,  while  in  innumerable  instances  all  these 
refinements  have  failed  to  refine,  there  have  been 
examples,  also  countless,  of  men  who  have  been  born 
amid  the  drear  discomforts  of  poverty,  but  have 
won   for  themselves,   by   their    conduct    and    their 


2S6  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

culture,  by  patient  continuance  in  well-doing,  the 
character  of  true  gentlemen. 

Some  assume  that  men  are  made  gentlemen  by 
their  education.  That  would  be  quite  true,  if  by 
education  was  intended  the  complete  development 
and  discipline  of  our  physical,  mental,  and  spiritual 
life ;  but  it  means  too  often,  when  it  is  regarded  as 
the  process  for  making  a  gentleman,  a  school  in  which 
the  boy  sent  there  will  have  many  companions  from 
grades  and  classes  higher  than  his  own,  and,  thus 
associated,  learning  the  same  lessons,  habits,  and 
games,  will  be  qualified  hereafter  for  what  is  called 
"  the  best  society,"  and  made  a  gentleman. 

It  has  been  said  not  seldom  by  those  who  had 
themselves  but  scant  opportunities  of  scholarship, 
that,  having  acquired  the  means,  they  will  give  their 
sons  the  benefits  which  they  never  received,  "  the 
best " — by  which  they  mean  the  most  fashionable — 
"  education  "  which  is  to  be  had,  and  so  make  them 
gentlemen. 

No  public  schools,  no  universities,  no  study  of 
elesrant  literature,  no  intellectual  attainments,  no 
accomplishments,  no  titled  playmates,  can  confer  this 
gift.  They  may  make  men  learned  or  athletic ;  they 
may  impart  the  pleasant  manners,  the  tone,  the  dress, 
the  appearance,  which  are  supposed  to  indicate  the 
gentleman;  but  the  real  elements,  the  truthfulness 
which  cannot  lie,  the  uprightness  which  will  not 
stoop,  the  courtesy  which  considers  all,  the  honour 
which  cannot  be  bribed,  the  command  of  the  passions. 


WHO  IS  A   GENTLEMAN  t  2^7 

the   mastering  of  the   temper, — these   can   only   be 
learned  from  God. 

Sir  Walter  Scott  said  that  "  he  had  read  the  most 
accomplished  authors  of  the  past,  and  had  known  the 
most  distinguished  men  of  his  day,  but  that  he  had 
learnt  higher  sentiments  from  the  lips  of  poor,  un- 
educated persons,  speaking  simple  thoughts,  than  he 
had  met  with  out  of  his  Bible."  Bishop  Christopher 
Wordsworth  declared  that  he  learned  more  in  poor 
men's  homes  and  from  sick  folks  than  from  all  the 
books  in  his  library. 

1  Some  arrogate  to  themselves  the  title  of  gentle- 
men because  they  are  rich,  and  because  they  think 
it  may  be  bought  with  money,  by  making  a  display, 
by  living  in  large  houses,  with  costly  furniture,  and 
great  gardens,  and  numerous  servants,  chariots  and 
horses,  fine  clothes  and  ornaments,  pictures  and  plate. 
"  But  what  is  the  good,"  it  has  been  asked,  "  of  gold- 
plate  and  pewter  principles  ?  "  If  these  adjuncts  be 
all  they  have  to  rely  upon,  they  will  deceive  none 
but  themselves.  The  baser  metal  will  continually 
show  itself  through  the  thin  covering  of  gold ;  the 
coarse  wood  will  be  seen  through  the  cracks  in  the 
gay  veneer.  There  will  ever  be  the  clumsiness  and 
the  heaviness  visible  to  the  eye,  and  the  discord 
and  the  dulness  audible  to  the  ear,  which  distinguish 
the  artificial  from  the  real,  the  false  from  the  true. 

*'  The  rank  is  but  the  guinea's  stamp, 
The  man's  the  gowd  for  a'  that." 

What  are  all  titles  but  mere  verbiage,  the  barren 

s 


258  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

coinage  current  among  men,  the  tinsel  clink  of 
compliment,  if  there  is  nothing  "royal,"  "noble," 
"gracious,"  "excellent,"  "right  honourable,"  "reve- 
rend," in  him  who  wears  them  ?  They  are  grand 
and  just  when,  as  the  good  French  precept  bids, 
Noblesse  oblige — when  they  suggest  obligations,  and 
high  ambitions,  and  holy  efforts  ;  but,  without  these, 
they  only  invite  rebuke  and  ridicule.  Our  Laureate 
has  beautifully  rendered  the  Latin  line,  "Nobilitas 
sola  est  atque  unica  virtus  " — 

"Howe'er  it  be,  it  seems  to  me 
'Tis  noble  only  to  be  good ; 
Kind  hearts  are  more  than  coronets, 
And  simple  faith  than  Norman  blood." 

Money  can  no  more  buy  happiness  than  it  can  buy 
character. 

"What  I  wish  to  demonstrate  is  this — that  no  man 
can  be  a  true  gentleman,  whatever  his  birth,  educa- 
tion, and  income,  who  is  actuated  only  by  selfish 
motives;  who  looks  to  the  world  around  him  for 
estimates  and  rules  and  rewards,  and  has  not  con- 
sidered who  are  the  true  gentlemen  and  noblemen  in 
the  eyes  of  the  all-seeing  God.  No  man  can  do  any- 
thing really  great  and  good,  gentle  and  manly  in 
unison,  so  long  as  he  cares  only  for  himself,  so  long 
as  he  disregards  God's  laws  and  directions,  and  does 
not  copy  the  model  which  Christ  has  set  before 
him. 

Hard  upon  nineteen  hundred  years  ago,  there  lived 
in  the  world  the  manliest,  noblest,  gentlest  Being— 


WHO  IS  A   GENTLEMAN t  259 

the  only  Perfect  Man,  Gentleman,  Nobleman,  whom 
this  world  ever  saw.  He  not  only  united  in  Himself 
all  that  is  best  in  manhood  and  womanhood — wisdom 
and  strength,  truth,  courage,  generosity,  gentleness, 
compassion,  purity — but  He  made  it  possible  for  us  to 
learn  "the  mind  that  was  in  Christ."  He  was  not 
only  the  perfect  Example  of  unselfishness,  but  He 
won  for  us,  and  is  ready  to  bestow  on  us,  the  power 
of  conquering  self — self-sacrifice. 

"Learn  of  Me,"  He  says;  "for  I  am  meek  and 
lowly  in  heart."  And  only  those  who  learn  the 
gentleness  of  Christ  are  gentlemen. 

It  is  the  Christ-like  spirit  which  induces  us  to 
work  for  others,  not  only  because  the  sense  of  our 
own  weakness,  which  it  teaches  us,  creates  a  sympathy 
with  them,  not  only  because  the  power  of  our  own 
temptations  makes  us  lenient  to  the  tempted,  not 
only  because  respect  for  our  own  convictions  make 
us  respect  the  convictions  of  others,  not  only  because 
our  joy  and  peace  in  believing  impels  us  to  tell 
others  that  we  have  found  the  Messias ;  but  because 
we  know  that  every  soul  is  alike  precious  to  Him 
who  died  fur  all,  and  that  in  loving  them  we  are 
loving  Him,  and  in  bearing  one  another's  burdens 
are  fulfilling  the  law  of  Christ. 

Hence  it  is  that  so  many  of  our  mere  worldly 
friendships  are  so  insincere  and  brief — bruised  reeds, 
which,  if  we  lean  on  them,  run  into  the  hand  and 
pierce  it.  They  are  so  largely  selfish.  They  are  too 
often  formed  from  fancy,  from  impulse,  from  similarity 


26o  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN, 

of  tastes  and  pursuits,  without  reference  to  principles, 
to  character.  Men  will  eat  and  drink  and  be  merry 
with  you  so  long  as  your  company  pleases  them, 
or  your  influence  promotes  their  interests,  but  will 
leave  you  from  mere  caprice,  or  upon  the  advent 
of  adversity.  Christ  said, "  I  will  never  leave  you  nor 
forsake  you;"  and  the  true  Christian  is  the  friend  that 
loveth  at  all  times,  and  the  brother  born  for  adversity. 
The  gentleness  of  Christ,  granted  to  prayer,  com- 
municated through  the  sacraments,  taught  by  the 
Scriptures,  realized  by  deeds  and  words  of  love — the 
gentleness  of  Christ  makes  gentlemen;  and  any 
Christian,  the  poorest,  the  weakest,  the  lowest  as  to 
earthly  possessions  and  power,  may  win  for  himself 
this  noble  designation.  Bishop  Wilson  describes  ''  the 
true  character  of  a  gentleman "  to  be  "  one  who 
has  a  good  estate  and  authority,  and  makes  use  of 
these  to  promote  the  glory  of  God,  the  good  of  his 
country,  and  to  help  those  that  are  in  need."  But 
a  man  may  be  a  gentleman,  in  the  highest  sense  of 
the  word,  who  has  neither  estate  nor  authority. 

"  Alas  !  'tis  far  from  russet  frieze 

To  silk  and  satin  gowns ; 
But  I  doubt  if  God  made  like  degrees 
'Twixt  courtly  hearts  and  clowns." 

The  Lord  of  glory  lay  in  a  manger,  lived  in  a 
poor  cottage,  and  earned  bread  by  the  sweat  of  His 
face ;  blessed  with  His  praise  and  promise  of  reward 
the  offerings  of  the  poor,  the  widow's  mite  which 
she  offered  for  the  Temple  service,  the  cup  of  cold 


WHO  IS  A   GENTLEMAN  \  26 1 

water  given  in  the  name  of  a  disciple,  to  tell  men 
that  it  might  be  always  so.  He  chose  unlearned  and 
ignorant  men  to  teach  and  convert  the  world,  and 
men  who  had  no  money  to  do  miracles  ("Silver 
and  gold,"  said  the  fisherman,  "have  I  none;  in  the 
Name  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth,  rise  up  and 
walk  "),  to  show  us  it  might  be  ever  so. 

And  who  that  knows  the  poor  has  not  seen  again 
and  again  that  it  is  so?  What  parish  priest,  for 
example,  has  not  seen  a  thousand  beautiful  examples, 
among  his  people,  of  the  truest  manliness,  manliness 
under  suffering ;  the  truest  gentleness,  gentleness  amid 
so  much  that  is  hard  and  harsh ;  the  truest  nobility, 
where  the  surroundings  have  been  so  vile  ?  Who  has 
not  found,  from  time  to  time,  in  the  meanest  cottage 
the  truest  courtesy,  the  most  tender  and  delicate  con- 
sideration for  others,  the  most  sweet,  long-suffering 
patience  ? 

Ah,  it's  easy  to  be  what  the  world  calls  manly 
when  we  are  hale  and  strong,  easy  to  be  gentle  when 
there's  nothing  to  vex,  to  be  generous  when  there 
are  abundant  means;  but  to  be  brave  and  cheerful 
and  unselfish  when  there  is  want  and  pain,  that 
comes  only  from  the  gentleness  of  Christ.  It  is  easy 
to  sigh  about  the  sorrows  of  others,  to  send  inquiries 
about  the  sick,  to  look  in  and  leave  a  tract,  or  a  sum 
we  shall  never  miss;  but  to  watch  by  the  bed,  to 
wait  upon  them  while  others  sleep,  to  have  them 
in  your  thoughts  and  prayers,  that  is  to  be  like 
Jesus  of  Nazareth.     For  it  is  written,  "  Blessed  is  he 


262  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

that  considereth  the  poor  and  needy  " — has  them  in 
his  heart. 

Of  course,  neither  poverty  nor  riches  makes  or  mars 
our  character.  The  angels  took  Lazarus  to  Paradise, 
when  he  died,  not  because  he  was  poor,  but  because 
he  was  patient,  faithful,  hopeful  in  his  poverty ;  and 
evil  spirits  hurried  Dives  to  a  place  of  torment,  not 
because  he  was  rich,  but  because  he  was  sensual  and 
unmerciful.  Abraham,  and  Hezekiah,  and  Matthew, 
and  Zacchseus,  and  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  and  Cornelius 
consecrated  their  wealth  to  God.  He  who  has  the 
gentleness  of  Christ  keeps  his  integrity  whether  he 
be  rich  or  poor.  Christianity  treats  all  men  alike; 
there  is  the  same  sympathy,  the  same  strength,  the 
same  conditions  and  requirements,  for  all;  in  exact 
proportion  as  their  need,  is  the  help  given  when  it 
is  sought;  as  their  day  so  is  their  strength;  every 
Christian  man  must  look  to  Christ,  as  the  Author  and 
Finisher  of  his  faith,  and  must  follow  His  example 
here,  or  he  cannot  share  His  glory  hereafter. 

In  all  the  civilized  races,  attempts  have  been  made 
by  the  most  thoughtful  and  refined  philosophers  to 
define  a  gentleman — as  the  Greek  teacher  Aristotle, 
TCTpay(t)vog  avev  ipoyov — 

"  Standing  foursquare  to  every  wind  that  blows  " — 
and  the  Latin  poet  Horace,  of  the  man,  "Integer 
vitse  scelerisque  purus ; "  all  agreed  he  must  be 
blameless,  "  sans  peur  et  sans  reproche  " — upright  and 
undefiled;  no  vicious  man  could  be  a  gentleman. 
But  when  we  pass  from  human  philosophy  to  Divine 


WHO  IS  A   GENTLEMAN t  263 

revelation,  the  ideal  is  exalted  at  once,  and  the 
definition  more  minute  and  clear.  "Even  he  that 
leadeth  an  incorrupt  life,  and  doeth  the  thing  that 
is  right,  and  speaketh  the  truth  from  his  heart.  He 
that  hath  used  no  deceit  in  his  tongue,  nor  done 
evil  to  his  neighbour,  and  hath  not  slandered  his 
neighbour.  He  that  setteth  not  by  himself,  but  is 
lowly  in  his  own  eyes,  and  maketh  much  of  them 
that  fear  the  Lord.  He  that  sweareth  unto  his 
neighbour,  and  disappointeth  him  not,  though  it  were 
to  his  own  hindrance.  He  that  hath  not  given  his 
money  upon  usury,  nor  taken  reward  against  the 
innocent." 

All  these  aspirations  and  inspirations  were  but 
typical  and  prophetic  of  the  perfect  example  of  the 
gentleness  of  Christ,  and  of  the  Christian  gentleman. 
In  Him  we  have  the  presentation  of  all  that  is  pure 
and  beautiful  in  manhood,  and  through  Him  we  have 
the  power  to  attain  it.  Nay,  as  the  Apostle  says, 
He  is  to  be  formed  in  us.  The  priests  of  Buddha 
tell  their  disciples,  ''  Think  of  Buddha,  and  ye  will 
become  like  Buddha."  We  say — not  we,  but  God — 
think  of  Christ,  pray  to  Christ,  seek  Christ,  and  He 
will  come  to  you,  and  make  His  abode  with  you,  and 
His  gentleness  shall  be  your  gentleness,  and  men 
shall  take  notice  that  you  have  been  with  Jesus,  and 
ye  shall  say,  "  As  for  me,  I  will  behold  Thy  presence 
in  righteousness :  and  when  I  awake  up  after  Thy 
likeness,  I  shall  be  satisfied  with  it." 

Wherefore  it  follows,  that  the  only  true  gentleman 


264  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

is  he  who  is  striving,  by  the  grace  of  God,  in  all 
things  to  resemble  Christ.  Whoever  hath  this 
ambition  and  hope  purifieth  himself,  as  He  is  pure. 
He  seeks  to  form  and  fashion  himself,  his  life  and 
conversation,  his  body,  his  mind,  his  senses,  his 
faculties,  his  estate  and  occupations,  after  this  Divine 
model. 

The  members  of  his  body — the  best  member  that 
he  hath — he  will  conform  to  the  gentleness  of  Jesus, 
that  his  conversation  may  be  such  as  becometh  the 
gospel  of  Christ.  He  will  remember  His  words — 
"  By  thy  words  thou  shalt  be  justified,  and  by  thy 
words  thou  shalt  be  condemned  ; "  "  Swear  not  at 
all."  He  will  not  only  put  a  watch  upon  his  mouth, 
and  keep  the  door  of  his  lips  from  all  words  that  may 
do  hurt — from  all  obscene  and  profane  words,  from  all 
harsh,  bitter,  unmerciful  words,  from  all  words  that 
are  false  and  untrue — but,  like  the  Divine  Master,  he 
will  speak  gentle  words  of  sympathy  and  compassion, 
solace  and  hope,  of  peace  and  good  will  towards  men. 
Ah !  friends,  how  much  might  we  do  in  this  spirit  to 
brighten  our  own  hearts,  and  to  increase  the  happi- 
ness of  our  fellow-men,  by  gentle,  kindly  words  !  A 
word  of  tenderness,  encouragement,  fitly  spoken  in 
season,  how  good  it  is ! 

"  It  droppeth  as  the  gentle  rain  from  heaven 
Upon  the  place  beneath :  it  is  twice  blest ; 
It  blesseth  him  that  gives  and  him  that  takes." 

The  soft  answer  that  turneth  away  wrath.  Christ's 
own  words,  spoken  into  mourners*  ears,  ''Not  dead, 


WHO  IS  A   GENTLEMAN^  26^ 

but  sleepeth ; "  "  Thy  brother  shall  rise  again ;  "  "I 
am  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life;"  "Weep  not;" 
'*  In  the  world  ye  shall  have  tribulation  :  but  be  of 
good  cheer ;   I  have  overcome  the  world." 

And  if  we  have  learned  the  gentleness  of  Christ, 
our  speech  will  not  only  be  kind  to  others,  but  of 
them.  Learning  this  mind  which  was  in  Him,  and 
remembering  His  Divine  utterance,  we  shall  put 
away  from  us  all  bitterness,  and  wrath,  and  anger, 
and  clamour,  and  evil  speaking,  with  all  malice ;  and 
we  shall  be  kind  one  to  another,  tender-hearted, 
When  we  hear  evil  of  others,  instead  of  denouncing 
and  saying,  "  Let  the  sentence  of  guiltiness  proceed 
against  him,  and  now  that  he  lieth,  let  him  rise  up  no 
more,"  would  it*  not  be  more  charitable  to  say,  "  Per- 
haps he  did  not  do  it ;  I  hope  that  he  is  innocent : 
and  if  he  be  guilty,  I  know  not  how  terribly  he  was 
tempted ;  I  know  not  that  he  may  not  have  repented 
bitterly,  and  found  pardon  from  God.  This  I  do 
know — Christ  died  for  him,  Christ  pleads  for  him, 
still  loves  and  yearns  to  save  him  "  ?  "  Judge  not,  and 
ye  shall  not  be  judged." 

A  charitable  silence,  it  has  been  well  said,  is  better 
than  an  uncharitable  truth.  "  I  have  often  repented," 
a  good  man  said,  "  of  having  spoken,  hardly  ever  of 
having  kept  silence."  "I  make  it  a  rule,"  Bishop 
Beveridge  writes,  "  never  to  praise  a  man  to  his  face, 
or  blame  him  behind  his  back." 

"  Speak  what  good  thou  knowest  of  thy  brother  to 
all  men ;  but  if  he  trespass  against  thee,  go  and  tell 


266  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

him  his  fault  between  him  and  thee  alone."  What 
misery  may  be  wrought  by  one  slanderous  word,  in 
families,  neighbourhoods ! 

More  than  this,  the  Christian  gentleman  will  not 
be  satisfied  with  the  submission  of  one  member  to 
the  law  of  Christ,  while  another  is  rebellious  and  dis- 
obedient, but  will  keep  under  the  whole  body  and  bring 
it  into  subjection,  knowing  that  he  who  shall  offend 
in  one  point  is  guilty  of  alL  "  The  light  of  the  body  is 
the  eye,"  and  that  must  glow  with  the  pure  light  of 
love,  and  not  with  the  lurid  fire  of  lust;  with  the 
sunshine  of  peace,  and  not  with  the  forked  fire  of 
malice  and  revenge. 

And  as  the  tongue  is  given  us  for  God's  glory — "  I 
will  sing  and  give  praise ; "  for  our  own  necessities — 
"  If  any  man  lack  wisdom,  let  him  ask  of  God ; "  and 
for  the  edification  of  our  fellow-men — "  Wherefore 
comfort  ye  one  another  with  these  words ; "  so  the 
eye  looks  heavenward  in  adoration. 

"  And  while  the  mute  creation  downward  bends 
Its  gaze,  and  to  its  earthly  mother  tends, 
Man  looks  aloft,  and  with  enraptured  eyes 
Beholds  his  bright  inheritance,  the  skies." 

Looks  heavenward,  and  sees  how  those  heavens 
declare  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  firmament  showeth 
His  handiwork. 

'*  Look  how  the  floor  of  heaven 
Is  thick  inlaid  with  patines  of  bright  gold. 
There's  not  the  smallest  orb  which  thou  behold'st 
But  in  his  motion  like  an  angel  sings, 
Still  quiring  to  the  young-eyed  cherubins." 


WHO  IS  A   GENTLEMAN^  267 

Earthward  upon  all  that  is  so  fairly,  so  fearfully, 
so  wonderfully  made,  with  awe  and  admiration,  ever 
praying,  "  Open  Thou  mine  eyes,  that  I  may  see  Thy 
wondrous  things ; "  earthward  upon  all  that  is  so  sad 
and  sinful,  with  tears  from  the  conduits  of  the  heart ; 
and  then  inward,  that,  not  looking  for  the  mote  that 
is  in  our  brother's  eye,  but  for  the  beam  in  our  own 
eye,  we  may  cast  out  that  which  doth  offend  the  Eye 
of  our  heavenly  Father — the  Eye  which  is  in  every 
place,  beholding  the  evil  and  the  good. 

No  Christian  gentleman  will  be  subdued  by  the 
mere  animal  appetites,  but  will  be  the  master,  and 
not  the  slave,  of  his  passions.  He  may  trip  and  fall, 
but  his  degradation  shall  bring  the  shame,  the 
remorse,  the  humility,  which  God  hath  seen,  to  a 
higher  place  of  security,  so  that  he  may  cling  more 
closely  to  the  Cross,  and  then  more  earnestly  may 
serve  the  Crucified. 

No  Christian  gentleman  can  be  a  fornicator, 
glutton,  drunkard,  or  gambler,  because  he  has  been 
told  by  his  Saviour  and  his  Judge  that  adulteries 
and  fornications  defile  a  man,  and  because  he  knows 
that  there  shall  in  no  wise  enter  anything  which 
defileth  into  the  new  Jerusalem ;  because  he  is  warned 
by  the  same  Divine  authority,  "  Take  heed  to  your- 
selves, lest  at  any  time  your  hearts  be  overcharged 
with  surfeiting  and  drunkenness,  and  so  that  day 
overtake  you  unawares;"  because  he  is  commanded 
not  to  covet  nor  desire  other  men's  goods,  that  no  man 
shall  go  beyond  and  defraud  his  brother  in  any  matter. 


268  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN, 

No  gentleman  can  be  a  glutton  and  a  drunkard. 
Under  the  Mosaic  Law,  it  was  ordered  that  if  parents 
brought  before  the  elders  of  the  city  a  son  who  was 
hopelessly  rebellious,  gluttonous,  and  drunken,  he 
should  be  stoned  with  stones  unto  death ;  and  under 
the  New  Covenant  we  are  told  that  "  if  an  evil  servant 
shall  say  in  his  heart.  My  lord  delayeth  his  coming, 
and  shall  begin  to  smite  his  fellow-servants,  and  to 
eat  and  drink  with  the  drunken,  the  lord  of  that 
servant  shall  come  in  a  day  when  he  looketh  not 
for  him,  and  in  an  hour  that  he  is  not  aware  of;  and 
shall  cut  him  asunder,  and  appoint  his  portion  with 
the  hypocrites  " — "  there  shall  be  weeping  and  gnash- 
ing of  teeth.'* 

No  gentleman  will  deliberately  "put  an  enemy 
in  his  mouth  to  steal  away  his  brains  " — the  reason 
which  raises  him  above  the  lower  animals,  and  so 
degrade  himself  infinitely  below  them.  No  one  who 
has  any  self-respect  would  incapacitate  himself  from 
his  ordinary  employments,  and  make  himself  con- 
temptible before  God  and  man. 

"  Know  ye  not  that  ye  are  the  temple  of  God  ?  If 
any  man  defile  the  temple  of  God,  him  shall  God 
destroy."  No  gentleman  will  forget  St.  Paul's  words, 
"  Know  ye  not  that  your  bodies  are  the  members  of 
Christ  ?  Shall  I  then  take  the  members  of  Christ  and 
make  them  the  members  of  an  harlot  ?     God  forbid." 

I  hope  to  speak  to  you  concerning  gambling  and 
betting  in  a  future  address,  and  therefore  I  will  only 
say  now  that,  while  I    admirethe  horse  and  his  rider. 


WHO  IS  A   GENTLEMAN^  269 

and  see  no  harm,  but  rather  a  manly  recreation,  in 
the  race,  it  seems  to  me  the  manifest  duty  of  every 
Christian  gentleman  to  abstain  from  the  practice,  and 
from  the  fellowship  of  those  who  practise  those  evil 
habits  of  gambling  and  betting,  which  have  been  so 
disastrous  in  the  ruin,  physical  and  financial,  moral 
and  spiritual,  of  their  fellow-men ;  which  have  tarnished 
noble  names,  and  alienated  ancestral  homes  and  estates; 
which  have  ended  in  the  grave  of  the  suicide,  and  in 
the  sorrows  of  broken  hearts,  in  exile,  in  asylum,  and 
in  jail. 

A  true  Christian  gentleman  will  not  only  govern 
his  senses — refrain  his  tongue  from  evil,  and  his  lips 
that  they  speak  no  guile ;  he  will  not  only  pray  God 
to  turn  away  his  eyes  lest  they  behold  vanity,  to 
strengthen  the  hands  that  hang  down,  and  to  guide 
his  feet  into  the  way  of  peace ;  he  will  cultivate  his 
mind,  that  he  may  make  it  a  worthier  offering  to 
Him  who  gave  it ;  he  will  store  it  with  such  informa- 
tion as  may  help  him  to  do  the  work  which  God  has 
assigned  to  him  more  worthily  and  usefully.  He  will 
remember  that  it  is  his  duty  to  love  God  with  all 
his  mind,  as  well  as  with  all  his  heart,  and  that  he 
must  offer  and  present  all  that  he  has  as  a  reasonable, 
holy,  and  lively  sacrifice  unto  Him. 

A  gentleman  will  not  disuse  God's  gifts  in  idleness 
and  sloth;  he  cannot  abuse  them  in  mere  frivolity; 
he  does  not  seek  knowledge  merely  for  knowledge 
sake,  to  be  wiser  than  his  fellows,  to  gain  admiration, 
popularity,  position,  influence,  income ;  he  desires  to 


2;o  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

use  it  to  God's  glory  and  the  good  of  his  fellow-men. 
While  he  instructs,  interests,  enlivens  his  mind  with 
all  that  is  true,  thoughtful,  sincere,  in  literature,  he 
despises  that  which  is  lascivious,  as  much  as  that 
which  is  sceptical  —  the  French  novel  making  a 
romance  or  a  comedy  of  deadly  sin,  and  the  English 
novel  revelling  in  murder,  condoning  heresy,  and 
suggesting  all  phases  of  unbelief. 

While  he  delights  in  true  humour,  because  God 
has  given  us  our  sense  and  power  of  humour  for 
our  constant  refreshment,  and  as  a  great  means,  if 
wisely  used,  whereby  he  may  dissuade  men  from  the 
meanness  and  misery  of  vice,  he  remembers  that 
there  are  two  kinds  of  satire — that  there  is  both 
the  use  and  abuse  of  wit. 

"There  is  a  wit,"  wrote  an  ancient  master  of 
eloquence  and  composition,  Cicero,  "  which  is  kindly, 
pleasant,  benevolent,  and  another  which  is  bitter, 
malignant,  cruel." 

A  Christian  gentleman  takes  care  of  his  possessions, 
be  they  great  or  small.  He  permits  no  waste — 
generous  to  others,  economical  towards  himself.  He 
does  not  gamble  nor  bet. 

He  incurs  no  liability  which  he  cannot  discharge, 
no  debt  which  he  cannot  pay.  He  is  true  and  just 
in  all  his  dealings.  "  Owe  no  man  anything,  but  to 
love  one  another." 

A  gentleman  is  courteous  to  all.  With  a  due  regard 
for  those  in  authority,  because  the  powers  that  be 
are  ordained  of  God,  he  has  yet  higher  motives  for 


WHO  IS  A   GENTLEMAN?  27 1 

his  courtesy.  In  prince  or  peasant  he  sees  an  im- 
mortal soul.  Christ  so  regarded  all,  and  treated  all 
with  the  utmost  consideration  and  tenderness.  He 
encouraged  all;  He  praised,  but  He  never  flattered. 
He  never  feared  to  denounce  evil,  wherever  it  showed 
itself.  He  was  just  the  same  in  the  temple,  in  the 
palace  of  the  high  priest,  as  He  was  with  the 
wayside  beggar,  or  in  the  cottage  home  of  the  fisher- 
men. 

Always  considerate  for  others,  always  tender- 
hearted, always  yearning  to  forgive  and  bless ;  always 
the  Good  Shepherd,  gathering  the  lambs  in  His  arms, 
and  carrying  them  in  His  bosom,  and  gently  leading 
those  that  were  with  young. 

There  was  only  one  class  of  men  who  evoked  His 
righteous  indignation — the  shams  and  hypocrites,  the 
scribes  and  Pharisees,  whose  religion  was  all  talk  and 
self-conceit ;  who  for  a  pretence  made  long  prayers  ; 
who  stood  outside  the  door  of  heaven,  not  entering, 
and  hindering  others.  They  presented  themselves  to 
the  world  as  saints;  they  had  a  form  of  godliness; 
they  gave  tithe  of  anise  and  mint  and  cummin;  but, 
just  as  so  many  now  assume  the  title,  the  appearance, 
the  manners  of  gentlemen,  it  was  only  a  profane  parody, 
a  forgery,  and  fraud. 

Hear,  then,  the  sum  of  the  whole  matter. 

It  is  in  the  power  of  every  one  of  you  to  be  included 
in  the  number  of  God's  gentlemen.  They  are  not 
made  by  pedigrees,  titles,  or  estates,  by  learning  or 
accomplishments.     The  only  perfect  Gentleman  lived 


272  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

in  a  poor  cottage,  and  worked  with  saw  and  plane. 
They  are  made  by  that  faith  in  His  love  and  in  His 
spiritual  Presence  which  constrains  them  to  take  up 
their  cross  and  follow  Him,  in  all  such  works  as  He  has 
prepared  for  them  to  walk  in.  They  hear  His  voice, 
and  they  believe  that  their  sinful  bodies  are  made 
clean  by  His  Body,  and  their  souls  washed  through 
His  most  precious  Blood. 

God's  gentleman  !  St.  Paul  describes  him : — 
"Abhorring  evil,  cleaving  to  that  which  is  good, 
kindly  affectionate,  not  slothful  in  business,  rejoicing 
in  hope,  patient  in  tribulation,  continuing  instant  in 
prayer,  rejoicing  with  them  that  rejoice,  and  weeping 
with  them  that  weep,  not  minding  high  things,  but 
condescending  to  men  of  low  estate,  not  wise  in  his 
own  conceits,  as  much  as  lieth  in  him  living  peaceably 
with  all  men." 

Who  shall  dare  to  plead  in  the  day  of  judgment 
that  he  tried  heartily  to  keep  these  rules  and  failed ; 
that  it  was  never  in  his  power  to  be  a  new  creature  in 
Christ,  to  be  one  of  God's  orentlemen  ? 


XVII. 

GAMBLING  AND   BETTING  * 

When  I  travelled,  not  long  ago,  with  a  number  of 
betting  men,  and  one  of  them  looked  up  from  his 
newspaper,  in  which  I  saw  afterwards  a  programme 
of  the  Church  Congress  to  be  held  at  Manchester,  and 
when  he  inquired  angrily,  "What  can  a  parson" — 
he  prefixed  an  epithet  which  seemed  to  me  to  be 
appropriate  only  to  a  clergyman  who  had  cut  himself 
in  the  act  of  shaving — "what  can  a  parson  know 
about  gambling  and  betting  ?  What  can  'e  know 
about  an  'oss  ? " — I  had  no  time  to  reply  to  the 
question,  because  the  train  was  just  stopping  at  a 
station,  and  the  inquirer  left  it  for  the  racecourse. 

My  answer  would  have  been  that,  in  this  matter, 
we  parsons  have  a  very  large  and  sad  experience.  If, 
in  our  "  sallet  days,  when  we  were  green  in  judgment," 
at  college,  and  in  society,  we  ourselves  escaped  without 
harm,  we  can  all  of  us  remember  instances  in  which 

*  This  address,  first  given  at  the  Manchester  Church  Congress,  was 
afterwards  published  by  the  Society  for  Promoting  Christian  Know- 
ledge, and  is  inserted  by  permission, 

T 


274  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

the  evil  spirit  ot  gambling  and  betting  not  only 
separated  very  friends,  long  and  happy  attachments 
broken  for  ever  on  the  night  when  one  lost  to  the  other 
more  than  he  knew  how  to  pay,  but,  far  worse  than  this, 
we  have  in  sorrowful  remembrance  many  companions 
and  contemporaries,  of  whom  it  might  have  truly 
been  said,  when  they  "went  upon  the  turf,"  that  it 
had  been  better  for  them  had  they  gone  under  it — 
noblemen,  gentlemen,  men  of  honour  and  integrity, 
but  gradually  contaminated  by  the  atmosphere  in 
which  they  moved,  first  dupes  and  then  deceivers. 

And  ever  since  those  days,  in  our  intercourse  with 
all  grades  of  society,  with  all  sorts  and  conditions  of 
men,  we,  whose  vocation  is  to  warn  against  the 
temptations  and  fascinations  of  sin,  to  expose  its 
delusions,  and  to  oppose  its  power;  we,  who  are 
distressed  to  hear  so  often  the  history  of  human 
weakness,  of  human  sorrow  and  shame ;  we,  who  are 
permitted  to  rejoice  so  often  when  we  minister  to 
minds  diseased  the  only  true  consolation  and  cure; 
we,  always  and  everywhere,  are  witnesses  of  the  dis- 
astrous injury,  temporal  and  spiritual,  the  misery  and 
disgrace,  which  are  wrought  by  gambling  and  betting. 

Wherefore,  when  I  am  asked  what  the  parson 
knows  of  these  things,  I  reply  that  we  speak  that 
which  we  know,  and  testify  that  we  have  seen  when 
we  affirm — 

1.  That  gambling  and  betting  are  directly  opposed 
to  the  teaching  of  Divine  revelation,  of  the  Law  and 
the  Gospel  alike;  and  that  they  prevent  a  man  from 


GAMBLING  AND  BETTING,  275 

fulfilling  the  gracious  purpose  for  which  God  made 
and  redeemed  him. 

2.  That  being  accompanied,  as  a  rule  with  rare 
exceptions,  by  other  vices — extravagance,  sensual 
indulgence,*  and  idleness — they  detract  from  our 
national  honour,  our  industrial  prosperity,  and  our 
domestic  happiness. 

3.  That  the  excuses  made  are  contemptible,  and 
that — 

4.  It  is  the  duty  of  all  Christians,  patriots,  and 
philanthropists  to  denounce  this  evil,  and  to  unite  in 
prayerful,  thoughtful,  practical  efforts  to  suppress  and 
to  expel  it. 

First,  then,  I  maintain  that  gambling  and  betting 
are  directly  opposed  to  those  revelations  of  the  Divine 
will  by  which  we  are  taught  our  duty  to  God  and  to 
each  other. 

It  has  been  said  that  men  may  gamble  and  bet 
without  breaking  any  one  of  the  Ten  Commandments  \ 
but  the  author  of  this  statement  would  be  hopelessly 
perplexed  to  illustrate  it  by  an  example.  We  shall 
fi'nd,  on  the  contrary,  if  we  go  through  the  Decalogue, 
referring   to   our  experience,  and   remembering    the 

*  "  Nearly  six  years  ago  I  prepared,  with  the  help  of  the  hate 
governor.  Major  Fulford,  a  'drink  census'  of  Stafford  Gaol.  The 
result,  when  tabulated,  went  to  show  that,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree, 
no  fewer  than  ninety-two  per  cent,  owed  their  imprisonment  to  habits 
of  intemperance.  But  I  record  my  settled  conviction,  arrived  at  after 
much  inquiry,  that  of  this  ninety-two  per  cent,  very  considerahly  more 
than  half  contracted  the  habit  of  drink  from  the  previously  acquired 
habit  of  gambling."— "  Betting  and  Gambling,"  Kev.  C.  Goldney, 
Chaplain. 


276  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

public  records,  that  these  habits  are  fraught  with 
special  temptations  to  transgress  those  Command- 
ments, one  and  all. 

Consider  those  of  the  first  table,  which  command 
our  entire  obedience  to  Him  who  has  declared  Him- 
self to  be  "a  jealous  God,"  and  who  says  to  every  one 
of  us,  "  My  son,  give  Me  thine  heart,  and  set  up  no 
idol  there.  Reverence  My  name,  and  when  thou  hast 
done  thy  six  days  of  work — for  this  is  My  immutable 
law, '  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread ' 
— then  keep  the  seventh  as  a  day  of  holy  rest,  and 
'  delight  thyself  in  the  Lord.' " 

Is  there  not  proof,  as  abundant  as  it  is  sad,  that 
the  fascinations  and  excitements  of  habitual  gambling 
and  betting  lure  men's  hearts  from  this  holy  allegiance 
and  absorb  them  in  things  of  the  earth,  earthy  ?  May 
not  the  prophet's  words  be  applied  to  them  that  they 
are  "mad  upon  their  idols" — idols  of  silver  and  of 
gold? 

Do  they  keep  the  door  of  their  lips  ?  Is  the 
tongue,  given  to  us  for  prayer  and  praise,  for  wise 
and  merciful  words,  the  best  member  that  they  have  ? 
or  is  it  an  unruly  evil,  loving  to  speak  all  words  that 
may  do  hurt  ?  Is  it  used  as  by  those  who  believe 
that  He  will  come  to  be  their  Judge,  who  has  said, 
"  By  thy  words  thou  shalt  be  justified,  and  by  thy 
words  thou  shalt  be  condemned ; "  "  Swear  not 
at  all "  ? 

"  Six  days  shalt  thou  labour."  What  labour,  what 
honest,   manly   work,   honourable   to   themselves   or 


GAMBLING  AND  BETTING,  277 

beneficial  to  their  fellow-men,  is  done  by  those  who 
gamble  and  bet  ?  Do  they  keep  the  Christian  Sabbath, 
the  Lord's  Day,  holy  ?  Is  the  betting-book  exchanged 
for  the  Bible  ?  Are  the  cards  and  dice  put  away  ? 
Would  the  men  who  run  horses  for  the  Prix  de  Paris, 
who  go  to  see  or  bet  upon  the  race,  have  any  scruples 
as  to  the  Prix  de  Manchester  or  the  Prix  de  Sandown 
taking  place  on  the  Sunday,  if  others  made  no 
objection  ? 

Passing  on  to  the  second  table  of  the  Law,  to  those 
Commandments  which  teach  us  our  duty  to  our 
neighbour,  to  the  Fifth  Commandment,  "  Honour  thy 
father  and  thy  mother,"  I  appeal  to  your  own  observa- 
tion, it  may  be  to  your  painful  experience,  how  many 
sons  have  been  led  to  disobedience,  to  that  spirit  of 
discontent  in  which  the  prodigal  said  to  his  father, 
"  Give  me  my  portion  of  goods  ; "  how  much  enmity, 
privation,  and  disgrace  have  been  brought  into  homes, 
where  there  had  been  only  love  and  plenty  and  fair 
fame,  by  those  first  temptations  to  gamble  and  to 
bet  ?  And  these  vices  seem  almost  always  to  induce 
a  selfishness  which  eliminates  the  purer  afiections. 
Some  few  years  ago  a  gentleman,  going  through  the 
workhouse  at  Sheffield,  was  greatly  surprised  to  see 
among  the  inmates  an  old  woman  whom  he  had 
known  in  a  comfortable  home  of  her  own.  He 
expressed  his  sorrowful  astonishment  to  the  master, 
and  added,  "  I  know  for  a  fact  that  one  of  her  sons 
is  earning  at  this  time  between  £4)  and  £5  a  week." 
On  this  information  the  master  souo-ht  and  found  the 


278  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

man  referred  to,  and  when  he  remonstrated  with  him, 
this  was  the  reply  he  received,  "  If  you  had  lost  £40 
on  that  cursed  handicap  last  week,  you'd  be  none  so 
keen  about  paying  for  other  folks  !  " 

But  our  righteous  indignation  gives  place  to  far 
more  powerful  emotions,  and  the  spirit  within  us  is 
oppressed  and  awed,  as  we  repeat  the  words,  "  Thou 
shalt  do  no  murder,"  and  think  of  the  number  of  those 
broken  hearts,  in  which  life  has  not  only  been  em- 
bittered, enfeebled,  and  gradually  crushed  out  by 
fierce  excitements,  by  terrible  anxieties,  and  by  actual 
want;  but  in  an  agony  of  wild  despair  has  been 
ended  here  by  those  who  could  no  longer  endure  it. 
How  often  have  we  read  in  our  newspapers  (there 
were  two  instances  last  year  in  the  same  month), 
"  Suicide  of  a  betting  man  "  !  Frith's  picture  of  the 
youth  with  the  pistol  in  his  hand  is  no  mere  sensa- 
tional fancy.  The  number  of  deaths  at  Monte  Carlo 
may  have  been  exaggerated,  but  there  were  two,  if 
not  three,  when  I  was  in  the  neighbourhood  not  many 
years  ago.  Of  one  case  I  had  full  particulars.  The 
purser  of  a  Kussian  man-of-war,  anchored  in  the  bay 
of  Villa  Franca,  came  ashore  and  went  to  the  gambling- 
room  at  Monte  Carlo.  At  first  he  won,  then  he  lost, 
staked  a  large  sum  belonging  to  the  ship,  lost  that, 
and  destroyed  himself.  More  recently,  seeing  in  one 
of  the  most  popular  and  reliable  provincial  news- 
papers that  there  had  been  fifteen  suicides  within 
six  months,  I  wrote  to  the  editor,  whom  I  knew 
personally,  and  asked  him  kindly  to  send  me  proof 


GAMBLING  AND  BETTING,  2/9 

of  the  information.  He  wrote  immediately  to  his 
correspondent,  a  Frenchman  resident  at  Nice,  and 
received  from  him  and  forwarded  to  me  minute  details 
of  the  last  four  miserable  deaths.  A  young  officer 
in  the  gendarmerie,  having  lost  12,000f,  shot  himself 
in  the  grounds  of  the  gaming-house,  first  in  the  throat 
and  then  in  the  head;  a  man  of  sixty-five,  having 
after  many  days  of  play  lost  all  he  had,  55,000f., 
hung  himself  in  one  of  the  kiosques  of  the  garden ;  a 
lady,  the  mother  of  a  family,  also  lost  all,  and  threw 
herself  from  the  fourth  story  of  the  hotel  in  which 
she  lodged ;  and  a  Captain  Wolfi",  of  the  Prussian 
Infantry,  shot  himself  in  his  bedroom.  The  four  sous 
which  they  found  in  his  purse  dispelled  all  doubt  as 
to  the  impulse  of  this  ruined  man.  Nevertheless, 
ladies  and  gentlemen  go  from  Cannes  and  elsewhere 
to  this  Aceldama  and  stake  their  Napoleons,  "just  for 
the  fun  of  the  thing,"  side  by  side  with  those  who 
may  recover  their  rouleaux,  but  never  again  their 
reputation ;  and  it  was  well  said  by  an  old  man  to 
a  youth,  boasting  in  a  railway  carriage  that  he  had 
been  to  Monte  Carlo  and  brought  back  thirty 
Napoleons,  "  You  don't  know,  sir,  whose  money  you 
have  won ;  your  thirty  pieces  may  have  belonged  to 
a  suicide,  and  so  be  the  price  of  blood." 

On  Commandment  VII.,  "  Thou  shalt  not  commit 
adultery,"  I  will  only  say  that  it  has  been  publicly 
affirmed,  the  writer  giving  as  his  authority  the  police 
employed  in  the  neighbourhood  of  St.  John's  Wood, 
on  racecourses,  and  elsewhere,  that  a  large  proportion 


28o  ADDRESSES   TO   WORKING  MEN, 

of  "kept  women,"  as  they  are  called,  are  supported 
by  those  who  gatable  and  bet,  and  that  a  majority  of 
the  most  important  cases  brought  into  the  divorce 
court  have  a  similar  association. 

Repeating  Commandment  VIII.,  "  Thou  shalt  not 
steal,"  I  think  you  wiU  endorse  my  conviction,  that 
the  gambler  who  cheats  and  the  betting  man  who 
bets  on  a  certainty  are  mere  robbers,  although  the 
professional  thieves  would  hardly  condescend  to 
recognize  them  as  worthy  of  enrolment  in  their 
society,  seeing  that  they  have  neither  the  courage 
of  the  burglar  nor  the  adroit  activity  of  the  prig. 
These  fifth-rate  petty  larceners  are  not  many  nor 
dangerous,  as  they  are  soon  found  out  and  relegated 
to  the  mixed  company  of  card-sharpers,  thimble- 
riggers,  welshers,  and  other  uncertificated  poachers 
who  hover  around  the  outskirts  of  the  great  preserves ; 
but  there  are  numerous  "  sportsmen,"  having  licences 
to  kill  game  within  the  covert,  who  have  no  scruples 
about  shooting  a  hen-pheasant  in  a  tree  or  a  hare  on 
her  seat,  if  they  are  sure  that  nobody  will  see.  I 
mean  that  there  are  many  men  who  gamble  and  bet 
who  will  take  every  advantage,  short  of  actual  dis- 
honesty, to  overreach  others.  So  far  from  being  con- 
demned, they  arelauded  and  envied  for  their  ingenuity, 
and  that  which  the  severe  moralist  might  denounce  as 
a  conspiracy  to  defraud  is  not  seldom  designated  as 
''  a  good  thing,"  and  the  good  men  who  arrange  this 
little  game  and  complete  it — I  beg  pardon,  "  bring  it 
ofi","  "pull  it  through" — are  admired  by  those  whom 


GAMBLING  AND  BETTING.  28 1 

they  have  not  "  let  in  "  as  wise  and  happy  in  their 
deed.  We  inferior  mortals,  who  cannot  raise  our 
appreciations  to  these  sublime  heights  of  sagacity, 
are  apt  to  depreciate,  as  dullards  do,  and  to  make 
some  such  comments  as  that  of  the  negro  speaking  of 
a  brother  black,  "  I  shall  not  call  'im  a  tief,  but  if  I 
were  a  chicken  and  saw  that  darkle  a  loafing  round, 
I'd  roost  high— dat's  all." 

If  gambling  and  betting  are  not  actual  peculations, 
they  most  assuredly  suggest  and  induce  them.  I  have 
made  inquiries  and  read  reports  from  governors  and 
chaplains  of  prisons,  some  of  which  I  have  personally 
visited,  the  last  at  Chatham,  one  of  the  largest  in  the 
kingdom,  and  these  officers  are  unanimous  in  their 
declarations  that  an  infinite  number  of  prisoners,  con- 
victed for  the  first  time  of  false  entries,  forgeries,  and 
actual  theft,  have  attributed  their  guilt  to  the  results  of 
gambling  and  betting.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Goldney,  chap- 
lain of  Her  Majesty's  Prison,  whose  evidence  I  have 
already  quoted,  made  this  statement  at  the  meeting  of 
the  Lichfield  Diocesan  Conference  held  in  November 
last — 

"  We  are  able  to  fill  one  of  those  spacious  corridors 
in  Stafibrd  Prison  with  young  men  of  the  clerk  and 
accountant  class,  their  ages  mostly  varying  from 
sixteen  to  twenty-three,  and  they  receiving  salaries  of 
from  iG40  to  £70  per  annum.  In  what  I  say  I  do  but 
act  as  their  spokesman,  summing  up  the  evidence  with 
which  they  have  supplied  me,  and  so  fulfilling  a 
promise  made  to  one  of  them  but  yesterday.     It  is 


282  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

betting  and  gamhling,  of  which  they  are  the  victims, 
rather  than  of  drink  and  immorality,  thowgh  these 
latter  may  he  described  as  accessories  both  before  and 
after  the  fact." 

So  true  is  it  that  "  he  who  maketh  haste  to  be  rich 
shall  not  be  innocent,"  and  that  "he  that  getteth 
riches,  and  not  by  right,  shall  leave  them  in  the  midst 
of  his  days,  and  at  his  end  shall  be  a  fool." 

Of  Commandment  IX.,  "  Thou  shalt  not  bear  false 
witness  against  thy  neighbour,"  in  its  connection  with 
gambling  and  betting,  it  may  suffice  to  recaU  the 
evidence  given  on  a  recent  notable  occasion,  and  in 
several  similar  trials,  by  the  betting  fraternity.  The 
variegated  testimony,  upon  oath,  of  these  witnesses, 
confuses  the  mind  of  the  reader.  He  is  perplexed,  for 
example,  in  the  last  case  brought  into  court,  to  know 
whether  the  person  chiefly  concerned  is  "  a  good  jockey 
who  would  not,  or  a  bad  jockey  who  could  not,  win ; " 
and  he  is  yet  more  bewildered  to  understand  how,  in 
either  case,  he  had  accumulated  (as  it  was  reported) 
the  sum  of  ^ei 50,000. 

Nor  will  you  ask  for  arguments  as  regards  Com- 
mandment X.,  "  Thou  shalt  not  covet  thy  neighbour's 
house,  .  .  .  noi"  anything  that  is  his,"  to  prove  the 
very  simple  fact  that  if  there  were  none  to  covet 
their  neighbour's  silver  or  gold,  his  banknotes, 
cheques,  or  I.O.U.'s,  there  would  be  none  to  gamble 
or  to  bet. 

But  religion  is  no  mere  code  of  prohibitory  and 
penal  laws.     It  teaches  us  not  only  to  fear  and  to 


i 


GAMBLING  AND  BETTING.  283 

despise  that  which  God  has  forbidden,  but  to  find  our 
happiness  in  doing  that  which  He  has  commanded, 
and  in  loving  one  another,  even  as  He  has  loved  us. 
If,  under  the  older  covenant,  men  were  not  only- 
warned  to  escape  from  the  curses  of  Ebal,  but  to 
enjoy  the  blessings  of  Gerizim ;  if  they  were  com- 
manded by  the  Levitical  law  not  to  defraud  but  to 
love  their  neighbours,  not  only  to  eschew  evil  but  to 
do  good ;  how  much  more  persuasively  are  we  invited 
by  the  Gospel,  how  much  more  powerfully  are  we 
impelled  by  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  to  that  charity  which 
worketh  no  ill  to  its  neighbour,  but  rejoices  to  pro- 
vide things  honest  in  the  sight  of  all  men  and  to  do 
them  good ! 

Wherefore  it  is  manifestly  false  to  say  that  they 
who  habitually  gamble  and  bet  break  no  command- 
ments ;  and  they  have  far  more  consistent  and 
plausible  arguments  who  decline  to  be  tested  by 
Christian  principles,  because  they  do  not  believe 
them. 

The  latter  assert  that  so  long  as  they  do  not  trans- 
gress the  laws  of  the  State,  they  have  a  right  to  do 
what  they  will  with  their  own.  We  have  no  king 
but  Caesar.  But  "no  man  liveth  to  himself,"  and 
though  you  may  leave  out  religion,  there  are  moral, 
political,  social,  and  domestic  obligations  from  which 
none  are  free.  You  cannot  do  wrong  to  yourself 
without  doing  wrong  to  others.  You  must  help  or 
hinder  them.  You  make  harmony,  or  you  mar  it, 
like  a  false  note  in  an  organ.     Legally,  no  doubt, 


284  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN, 

every  man  has  a  perfect  right  to  lose  his  money  or  to 
waste  it,  to  fool  himself  to  the  top  of  his  bent,  to 
reduce  himself  to  that  detestable  condition  of  idiotic 
imbecility  which  Hogarth  has  drawn  so  wonderfully 
in  the  last  scene  of  the  "  Rake's  Progress ; "  but  he 
can  never  have  any  right  to  do  wrong  to  others,  to 
injure  those  dependent  upon  him,  those  who  have 
claims  upon  him,  which  none  dispute.  I  remember 
hearing  from  my  father  of  his  painful  astonishment 
and  righteous  disgust  when,  on  the  stand  at  Don- 
caster,  and  just  before  the  St.  Leger  was  run,  he 
heard  the  representative  of  an  ancient  and  honourable 
family,    a    large    landed    proprietor   in    a    midland 

coanty,  exclaim,  "Now  it's "   I  will  not  name 

the  estate,  but  say,  "  Now  it's  home  or  no  home."  A 
few  minutes  after,  he  had  lost  all  hope  of  retrieving 
his  property ;  it  was  sold  to  a  stranger ;  and  to  this 
day  his  descendants  have  suffered  in  exile  and  in 
poverty  the  result  of  his  selfish  folly.  And  this  is 
only  a  sample  from  the  bulk.  Since  those  well- 
known  lines  were  written  fifty  years  ago — 

"  The  stately  homes  of  England, 

How  beautiful  they  stand, 
Arftid  their  tall  ancestral  trees. 

Through  all  this  pleasant  land  ! 
The  deer  across  their  greensward  bound, 

In  shade  and  sunny  gleam. 
And  the  swan  glides  past  them  with  the  sound 

Of  some  rejoicing  stream !  " 

how  many  of  these  grand  mansions  have  been  sold 
and  let  and  mortgaged  because  their  owners  would 
gamble  and  bet !     I  saw  recently  one  of  the  most 


GAMBLING  AND  BETTING.  285 

extensive  and  ornate  of  these  edifices.  The  roof  and 
large  portions  of  the  floors  had  fallen  in,  the  doors 
and  windows  were  gone,  and  the  rank  weeds  were 
growing  where  "  tapers  gleamed  and  music  breathed, 
and  beauty  led  the  ball  " — 

"  No  human  footstep  stirred  to  come  or  go ; 

No  face  looked  out  from  shut  or  open  casement  ; 
No  chimney  smoked;  there  was  no  sign  of  Home, 
From  parapet  to  basement." 

And  all  this  desolation  and  ruin  because  the  owner 
had  gambled  and  betted.  At  the  same  time,  we  may 
not  forget  that  in  all  classes  of  society,  as  well  as  in 
the  highest,  a  similar  injustice,  as  cruel  though  not 
so  notorious,  the  same  misery  and  degradation, 
though  the  area  of  suffering  is  not  so  large,  are 
inflicted  by  gambling  and  betting  in  the  professions 
and  trades,  and  among  those  working  men,  who  lose 
a  week's  wages  on  a  race,  whose  wives  come  to  them 
on  a  Saturday  night  and  say,  "  There's  no  more  tick 
to  be  had,  and  the  children  are  crying  in  the  fireless 
room  for  food." 

In  brief,  these  vices  seem,  wherever  they  prevail, 
to  induce  more  swiftly  and  hopelessly  than  any 
others,  hard,  reckless,  cruel  selfishness.  The  selfish- 
ness of  a  miser  is  contemptible,  but  it  is  laudable 
generosity  in  comparison  with  his  who  wastes  that 
which  is  not  his  own.  There's  an  old  story  of  a  very 
rich  man  in  this  neighbourhood,  who,  when  he  was 
invited  to  act  as  churchwarden,  took  some  little  time 
to    consider    the    matter,    and    then    informed    the 


OF  THE 

UN1VERSI 


286  ADDRESSES  TO   WOR ICING  MEN. 

petitioners  that  "he  had  made  up  his  mind  that  if 
ever  he  did  ote  for  note/'  (aught  for  nothing),  "he 
thought  he  should  do  it  for  sen."  I  pity  that  gentle- 
man, but  I  abhor  the  gambler. 

It  is  an  argument  very  commonly  urged  for  racing, 
that  it  greatly  improves  the  breed  of  horses.  We 
need  not  discuss  the  question  whether  it  would  not 
be  possible  equally  to  improve  the  breed  of  horses  by 
trial,  by  selection  of  the  fittest.  I  never  heard  that 
Lord  Ellesmere  raced  those  magnificent  stallion  cart- 
horses which  I  have  seen  at  Worsley,  and  which 
would  require  jockeys  of  twenty  stone  weight  to 
steer;  but,  accepting  the  statement,  and  giving  all 
honour  to  those  men  who  have  acted  upon  it — such 
men  as  the  Duke  of  Westminster,  Lord  Falmouth, 
the  Duke  of  Portland,  and  others — I  would  ask.  How 
many  of  those  who  bet  upon  races  ever  think  of 
improving  the  breed  of  horses  ?  They  improve  him  ! 
Why,  he's  infinitely  the  more  noble,  a  thousand 
times  the  more  beautiful,  animal.  I  have  loved  him 
ever  since  I  rode  a  rocking-horse ;  and  I  could  have 
told  that  fellow-traveller  to  whom  I  have  referred, 
and  who  asked,  "  What  can  parsons  know  about 
horses  ?  "  of  many  who,  like  myself,  had  tested  their 
wonderful  power  and  pluck  over  the  clays  of  "the 
Eufibrd,"  the  walls  of  "the  Heythrop,"  the  huge 
fences  and  green  pastures  of  "  the  Quom."  What's 
the  horse  to  him  but  a  machine  for  making  money  ? 
There  is  not  a  single  point  of  resemblance  between 
them,  unless  it  be  black  legs ! 


i 


GAMBLING  AND  BETTING,  287 

I  know,  of  course,  that  there  are  scores  of  highly 
educated,  honourable  noblemen  and  gentlemen,  dis- 
tinguished for  their  public  services,  dutiful  and 
blameless  in  their  private  life  (as  those  whom  I 
have  just  named),  who  regard  racing  as  a  pleasant 
recreation  and  a  manly  sport,  who  never  gamble, 
and  bet  little,  if  they  bet  at  all.  0  si  sic  omnes !  for, 
if  all  were  so,  the  racecourse  might  be  a  place  of 
healthful  enjoyment  and  of  genial  intercourse;  and 
I,  for  one,  should  rejoice  to  hear  of  working  men 
going  there  by  thousands  on  their  holidays;  but 
until  they  can  go  without  seeing  that  which  they 
should  not  see,  and  hearing  that  which  they  should 
not  hear,  the  impudence  of  the  harlot,  the  disgusting 
degradations  of  drunkenness,  the  profane  oath  and 
filthy  conversation,  the  attempts  to  rob  and  to  cheat 
— until  then,  all  who  have  the  true  welfare  of  those 
working  men  at  heart  must  bid  them  in  God's  name 
to  keep  S.wsiy. 

I  would  not  abolish  racing,  but  I  would  have  far 
more  done  than  is  done  to  abolish  rogues — to  expel 
those  who  despoil  and  disgrace  humanity ;  men  who, 
having  in  many  instances  abilities  which  would  have 
made  them  prosperous  and  useful,  concentrate  their 
mental  faculties  on  "  morning  tips,"  "  to-day's  betting 
in  London,"  "latest  scratchings,"  and  "midnight  odds," 
and  who  seem  to  think  that  the  faculty  of  speech 
has  been  bestowed  upon  them  that  they  may  scream 
and  yell  therewith,  "  I'll  lay  5  to  1  bar  1,"  or  "10 
to  1  bar  2." 


288  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN, 

They  have  but  one  subject  of  thought  and  con- 
versation. John  Leech  told  me  that  he  travelled 
more  than  a  hundred  miles  with  two  members  of 
the  fraternity,  who  had  just  come  from  the  racecourse, 
and  that  one  of  them  repeated  the  same  observation 
to  the  other,  with  slight  variations  and  a  profusion 
of  profane  embellishments,  Leech  thought,  about 
fourteen  times  !  The  remark  was  this,  "  As  soon 
as  ever  that  'oss  came  into  the  paddock,  I  says  to 
Bob,  t/.P."  Then  after  a  brief  silence,  or  after  he 
had  smoked  or  slumbered,  he  would  resume  his  story, 
*'  As  soon  as  ever  he  come  into  the  paddock,  I  know'd 
they'd  got  him."  Only  once  did  he  enlarge  his 
reminiscences  so  far  as  to  repeat  the  rejoinder  of 
his  friend.  "  And  Bob  said  "  (and  it  is  pretty  evident 
from  Kobert's  language  that  he  belonged  to  our 
County  Palatine  of  time-honoured  Lancaster — I  say 
ovbTy  for  I  am  a  Lancashire  lad) — "and  Bob  said, 
'He's  welly  bossen'd.'" 

He's  a  poor  creature,  wherever  you  find  him,  the 
man  who  does  nothing  but  gamble  and  bet — whether 
he's  playing  cards  in  his  club  on  a  lovely  summer's 
afternoon,  or  shooting  dove-cote  pigeons  out  of  a  trap 
for  money,  or  whether  he's  trying  to  overreach  his 
juniors  (often  little  more  than  boys)  in  the  tap-room 
of  a  public-house,  of  which  in  too  many  instances 
the  landlord  is  a  professional  betting-man. 

The  epitaph  on  the  clumsy  maid-of-all-work  might 
be  repeated  upon  the  man  who  is  all  'play — "  Nihil 
tetigit  quod  non  fregit."     She  broke  everything  she 


GAMBLING  AND  BETTING.  289 

touched.  He  has  spoiled  racing,  and  he  is  trying 
to  spoil  boating,  and  football,  and  cricket.  Oh  for 
the  good  old  times,  when  the  nearest  approach  to 
gambling  upon  the  close-mown  turf  was  that  of 
Fuller  Pilch  giving  some  friend  a  sovereign,  to  be 
repaid  a  shilling  for  every  run  he  got ! 

And  now,  if  gambling  and  betting  are  thus  de- 
grading and  disastrous,  "  of  all  habits  the  vilest,"  as 
Ruskin  writes,  "because  they  unite  nearly  every 
condition  of  folly  and  of  vice,"  and,  so  far  from 
exaggerating,  I  have  purposely  abstained  from  several 
details,  with  which,  as  he  who  drew  Priam's  curtain 
in  the  dead  of  night,  and  told  him  half  his  Troy  was 
burnt,  or  like  the  Fat  Boy,  when  he  gave  notice, 
"  I'm  agoing  to  make  your  blood  run  cold,"  I  might 
have  produced  sensational  excitement;  if  I  have 
spoken  facts,  which  you  can  not  only  endorse  but 
amplify,  is  it  not  our  duty  as  Christians,  as  patriots, 
and  citizens,  to  denounce  these  evils,  and  to  unite 
in  prayerful,  thoughtful,  practical  efforts  to  expose 
and  to  expel  them  ? 

These  attempts  should  be  made  in  no  intolerant 
or  disdainful  spirit,  but  with  that  charity  which 
hopeth  and  endureth  all  things,  though  it  be  repelled 
with  insult.  While  we  enforce  vigorously  and  im- 
partially those  wise  and  just  laws  which  the  State 
has  enacted  for  the  protection  of  the  weak,  and  for 
the  punishment  of  their  assailants,  and  ask  such  further 
powers  from  Parliament  as  may  seem  to  be  required, 
we   must   rely   far    more   on   moral    than   on  legal 

u 


290  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

restraint,  far  more  upon  conviction  than  coercion, 
far  more  upon  kindness  than  severity,  far  more  upon 
patience  than  anger,  for  progress  and  for  victory. 
Indeed,  these  gamblers,  though  they  may  despise  and 
even  curse  our  compassion,  are  of  all  men  most  to 
be  pitied.  Though  they  seem  to  be  so  free  from  care, 
to  come  in  no  misfortune  like  other  folk,  so  lusty  and 
strong,  so  boisterous  in  their  jocund  glee,  even  in 
laughter  the  heart  is  sorrowful,  and  the  end  of  that 
mirth  is  heaviness. 

No  men  verify  more  signally  the  prophetic 
warnings,  "  Be  sure  your  sin  will  find  you  out ; " 
"The  gods  are  just,  and  of  our  pleasant  vices 
make  whips  to  scourge  us."  We  clergy  know  how 
inevitably  the  time  comes  to  these  men,  as  to  all 
who  have  persistently  done  despite  to  the  Spirit 
of  grace,  when  they  must  think  and  suffer  and 
"  loathe  themselves  for  the  evils  which  they  have 
committed."  What  men  are  so  exposed  as  these 
to  disappointments  and  reverses,  to  the  sadness  and 
the  sickness  which  attend  inseparably  upon  wild 
excitement  and  excess  ?  How  many  have  felt  that 
which  Mr.  Greville  has  written  in  his  "  Memoirs  " — 
"  While  the  fire  is  raging,  while  the  odds  are 
varying,  I  can  neither  read  nor  write,  nor  occupy 
myself  with  anything  else "  !  And  again,  "  Thank 
God,  the  races  are  over!  I  have  had  all  the 
trouble,  excitement,  and  worry,  and  have  neither 
won  nor  lost.  Nothing  but  the  hope  of  gain  would 
induce  me  to  go  through  this  demoralizing  drudgery, 


GAMBLING  AND  BETTING.  29 1 

which  I  am  conscious  reduces  me  to  the  level  of  all 
that  is  most  disreputable  and  despicable,  for  my 
thoughts  are  eternally  absorbed  in  it.  Jockeys, 
trainers,  and  blacklegs  are  my  companions.  It  is 
like  dram-drinking — having  once  begun,  I  cannot 
leave  it  off,  though  I  am  disgusted  all  the  time  with 
my  occupation.  There  is  something  in  it  all  which 
displeases  me,  and  I  often  wish  I  was  well  out  of  it. 
I  always  feel  ashamed  of  the  occupation,  and  a  sort  of 
consciousness  of  degradation  and  deterioration  from  it." 

Happy  they,  who  not  only  despise  this  servitude, 
but  break  its  bonds  asunder,  and  cast  away  its  cords 
from  them. 

It  seems  to  me,  to  conclude,  that  there  are  two 
primary  and  indispensable  elements  of  success  in  a 
crusade  against  gambling  and  betting,  exam'ple  and 
sympathy.  The  beacons  of  war  must  be  kindled  on 
the  mountains.     The  officers  must  lead  the  attack. 

Noblesse  oblige :  a  true  nobleman,  a  true  gentleman, 
should  not  condescend  to  take  money  from  one  whom 
he  despises,  money  which  has  been  obtained  he  knows 
not  how,  the  loss  of  which  may  have  caused  ruin  and 
disgrace.  It  seems  to  me  that  no  true  nobleman,  no 
true  gentleman,  should  pay  large  sums  of  money  and 
have  nothing  to  show  for  it — money  with  which  he 
might  have  relieved  want  and  encouraged  industry ; 
might  have  gained  "  the  blessing  of  him  that  was  ready 
to  perish,  and  caused  the  widow's  heart  to  sing  for 

joy." 

-    Caesar,  like  his   wife,  should   be   above  suspicion; 


292  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

but  if  he  fraternizes  with  the  suspected,  the  world  will 
say,  "  Noscitur  a  soeiis,"  "  Birds  of  a  feather  flock 
together."  The  leorislator  must  be  the  last  man  to 
suggest  the  accusation  that  there  is  one  law  for  the 
rich  and  another  for  the  poor ;  that  you  may  gamble 
and  bet  as  you  please  at  the  club,  but  not  in  the 
public-house;  that  you  may  play  for  hundreds,  but 
certainly  not  for  half-crowns.  A  magistrate  must  not 
by  any  inconsistency  provoke  the  sarcastic  smile 
or  wink  behind  his  back  of  the  policeman  who 
receives  his  instructions.  Tall  men  should  brush 
their  hats.  If  the  public  clocks  of  the  Town-hall,  the 
Infirmary,  and  the  Church  (representing  the  three 
professions  of  law,  physic,  and  divinity)  go  wrong, 
where  shall  the  citizen  set  his  watch  ? 

Then  I  would  appeal  to  that  mighty  Hercules,  the 
common  sense  {consensus)  of  public  opinion,  not  to 
abolish,  but  to  ablute  the  Augsean  stables ;  to  Jupiter 
Tonans,  the  Thunderer,  the  press,  not  to  advertise 
"  tips,"  nor  even  "  morals,"  to  ignore  the  "  odds,"  to 
allay  the  irritation  of  midnight  "  scratchings,"  and 
not  to  obstruct  the  pavement  with  a  crowd  of  loafers 
waiting  to  know  whether  they  have  lost  or  won  their 
money  instead  of  honestly  earningj  it ;  to  Mars  and 
to  Neptune,  the  military  and  naval  magnates,  to  dis- 
courage gambling  and  betting  among  their  subalterns ; 
to  Mercurius,  the  chief  speakers,  not  only  to  denounce 
these  vices  in  Parliament,  from  pulpit  and  platform, 
but  to  demonstrate  to  their  hearers  the  more  excellent 
ways  of  honourable  and  useful  employment.     I  would 


GAMBLING  AND  BETTING,  293 

entreat  Vulcan,  all  who  have  power  in  the  factory 
and  at  the  forge,  to  come  down  upon  this  evir  like 
Nasmyth's  hammer  upon  a  nest  of  rotten  eggs ;  and 
I  would  beseech  Venus,  our  fair  English  damsels  and 
dames,  to  withdraw  their  presence  from  the  shooting 
of  pigeons  at  Hurlingham  or  the  plucking  them  at 
Monte  Carlo. 

We  want  more  sympathy  and  less  selfishness.  We 
want  union  of  hearts  as  well  as  union  of  trades. 
We  want  co-operation,  which  means  something  more 
than  "Divi."  We  want  more  mutual  respect  and 
less  mutual  recrimination,  more  talk  face  to  face  and 
less  behind  each  other's  backs.  Then  we  shall  find 
that  we  have  all  of  us  our  temptations  and  difficulties, 
and  may  combine  in  overcoming  them.  We  should 
follow  the  example  of  the  elder  Wilberforce.  "  I  have 
always  tried,"  he  said,  "  to  see  some  good  in  my  fellow- 
men,  and  have  never  failed  but  twice."  When  we 
see  others  in  error,  let  us  remember  the  wise  words 
of  a  Kempis,  "  If  thou  canst  not  make  thyself  to  be 
what  thou  dost  desire,  how  dost  thou  expect  another 
to  be  exactly  to  thy  mind  ?  "     Wherefore — 

"  Speak  gently  to  thy  brother ; 

Thou  yet  may'st  win  him  back, 
By  kindly  word,  and  deeds  of  love, 

From  misery's  thorny  track  ; 
Deal  gently,  for  thou  oft  hast  sinned. 

And  yet  may  sinful  bo ; 
Deal  gently  with  thy  brother. 

As  God  has  dealt  with  thee." 

Not  only  speak,  but  deal  gently.     If  gambling  and 


294  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

betting  are  so  injurious,  the  question  which  we  have 
to  answer  to-night  is,  What  are  we  doing,  what  are 
we  going  to  do,  to  repress  them  ?  Hypocrites  and 
cowards  only  cry,  "  How  foolish  they  have  been ; 
they'll  be  drowned ;  they'll  be  burned  !  How  I  wish 
I  could  help  them,  but  nothing  can  be  done  ! "  Brave 
men  man  the  lifeboat,  and  go  up  the  ladder  through 
the  smoke.  It's  all  very  well,  as  far  as  it  goes,  to  tell 
a  poor  fellow  that  you  are  sorry  that  he  is  starving, 
but  it  is  far  more  "  gradely  "  to  send  him  a  leg  of 
mutton.  We  all  deplore  epidemic  disease,  but  wise 
men  and  kind  men  not  only  send  the  doctor  and  the 
nurse,  but  they  look  to  the  drains,  that  they  may 
prevent  as  well  as  cure.  They  go  to  the  springs  that 
they  may  purify  the  whole  stream,  instead  of  filtering 
it  by  the  pint.  A  drunkard  said  to  a  philanthropist 
reproving  him,  "Come  and  live  in  our  court,  and 
you'll  soon  be  glad  of  the  whisky."  So  with  gambling 
and  betting.  While  there  is  no  excuse  for  those  who 
have  healthful  homes  and  occupations  and  amuse- 
ments, the  plea  may  certainly  be  urged  by  those  who 
have  them  not ;  nay,  in  too  many  cases  have  but 
a  small  share  in  those  free  gifts  which  are  meant  for 
all — fresh  air,  pure  water,  and  clear  light.  "  We  do 
not  profess,"  they  may  say,  "to  be  admirers  of 
gambling  and  betting,  we  are  not  blind  to  the  harm 
they  do,  but  what  do  you  propose  in  their  place  ?  "  I 
am  a  gardener,  and  I  know  that  if  plants  have  not 
a  good  soil,  light,  and  air,  they  will  quickly  be 
infested  by  grubs,  mealy-bugs,  aphis,  and  all  manner 


GAMBLING  AND  BETTING.  295 

of  flies.  So  with  men :  if  they  have  not  healthy 
homes,  honest  occupation,  or  social  amusement,  they 
will  be  attacked  by  parasites,  by  companions  who 
will  ittduce  them  to  drink,  to  gamble,  and  bet. 

In  the  interesting  book  called  "  Social  Arrows," 
Lord  Brabazon  writes,  "A  Manchester  magistrate  of 
my  acquaintance  told  me  that,  on  taking  his  seat 
for  the  first  time  on  the  bench,  a  boy  was  brought 
before  him  charged  by  the  police  with  playing  pitch- 
farthing  in  the  streets.  The  magistrate  expatiated 
on  the  evils  of  gambling,  and  suggested  to  the  lad 
that  some  amusement,  such  as  marbles,  might  be  sub- 
stituted. Having  dismissed  the  boy  with  a  caution, 
the  magistrate  ordered  the  next  case  to  be  brought 
forward,  when,  to  his  astonishment  and  confusion, 
he  found  that  it  was  a  similar  one,  only  that  in  this 
instance  the  unfortunate  child  had  been  taken  up  by 
the  police  for  playing  the  very  same  game  which  he 
had  recommended ;  was  told  that  such  games  caused 
obstruction  to  traffic,  that  children  playing  in  the 
streets  were  a  public  nuisance,  and  thus  became 
liable  to  the  law."  So  that  the  Manchester  street- 
boy  resembled  that  flying-fish  on  whom  the  albatross 
pounces  if  he  leaves  the  water,  and  the  dolphin 
pursues  beneath  it. 

What  was  the  result  ?  A  consummation  devoutly 
to  be  wished  in  every  similar  case.  It  was  evident 
to  the  magistrate  that,  if  these  lads  had  a  playground 
for  healthful  games,  he  and  they  would  have  been 
spared  that  painful  interview;  and,  more  than  this, 


296  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN, 

because  "the  boy  is  father  to  the  man,"  and  we  all 
need  some  recreation,  that  it  would  be  well  if  the 
people  had  their  playgrounds  also.  He  acted  upon 
his  impulse,  and  from  that  hour  gave  thought  and 
time  and  money  in  his  anxious  efforts  to  improve 
the  homes  and  the  amusements,  the  health  and  hap- 
piness, of  his  fellow-men. 

Why,  were  it  only  a  matter  of  expediency,  of 
pounds,  shillings,  and  pence,  surely  common  sense 
should  teach  us  that  if  we  would  have  men  to  fiorht 
the  battles  and  do  the  work  of  the  nation,  we  must 
keep  them  in  good  condition.  You  must  keep  your 
machinery  clean,  and  oil  it  now  and  then.  Over-ride 
your  horse,  and  he'll  spring  a  sinew.  Give  him 
regular  exercise,  a  roomy  stable,  sweet  hay,  and  a 
few  old  beans  now  and  then,  and  he'll  neither  jib 
nor  kick  over  the  traces. 

But  we  must  have  higher  motions  than  these. 
Social  and  commercial  interests  may  be  admirable 
allies,  but  they  cannot  win  the  victory  by  themselves. 
Religious  conviction,  the  witness  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
in  our  hearts,  Christianity,  alone  can  instruct  us, 
empower  us,  constrain  us,  to  contend  against  that 
which  is  evil  in  ourselves  and  in  others. 

Yes,  I  am  sure  that  Christianity  alone  can  impress 
us  with  a  sense  of  these  obligations  and  bring  us  the 
power  to  fulfil  them.  Religion  alone  can  enable  us 
to  convince  others,  as  we  are  ourselves  convinced, 
that  gambling  and  betting  are  degradations  of  the 
redeemed  and  regenerate  man,  vile  abuses  of  those 


i 


GAMBLING  AND  BETTING.  2^7 

gifts  and  energies  which  were  given  us  for  nobler 
ends,  and  miserable  failures  to  find  happiness,  where, 
sooner  or  later,  there  is  but  sorrow  and  shame. 

Alas !  this  curse  had  never  come  to  us  had  we  but 
been  true  children  of  the  Church — of  the  mother  who 
taught  us,  as  soon  as  we  were  able  to  learn,  "  not  to 
covet  nor  desire  other  men's  goods,  but  to  learn  and 
labour  truly  to  get  our  own  living,  and  to  do  our 
duty  in  that  state  of  life,  to  which  it  shall  please 
God  to  call  us." 


XVIII. 

THE  CHUECH  AND  DISSENT. 

A  TRUE  desire  for  unity  can  only  exist  in  the  hearts 
of  sincere  and  earnest  Christians,  who  have  learned 
something  of  the  mind  which  was  in  Him  who 
prayed  that  we  might  all  be  one ;  and,  therefore,  in 
our  considerations  of  reunion  between  the  Church 
and  Dissent,  we  must  leave  out  all  mere  professors, 
formalists,  and  partisans.  We  must  eliminate,  on  the 
one  hand,  all  those  who  are  Church-people,  mainly 
because  papa  has  a  pew  ;  who  go  to  church  once  a 
week — hebdomadal  Christians — to  keep  up  appear- 
ances, "for  the  sake  of  the  young  people  and  the 
servants,  you  know ; "  who  go  because  landlords,  and 
employers,  and  customers,  and  genteel  people,  and 
carriage-folk  will  be  there  ;  or  because  the  Church  is 
a  national  institution,  and  it  is  their  solemn  con- 
viction that  if  they  do  not  patronize  it  now  and  then 
it  must  decay,  dissolve,  and,  like  the  baseless  fabric 
of  a  dream,  leave  not^a  rack  behind.  And,  on  the 
other  hand,  we  must  decline  to  notice  those  who  are 
Dissenters  from  social  and  political,  but  not  from 
spiritual,  motives.     We  must  refuse  to  listen  to  any 


THE   CHURCH  AND  DISSENT.  399 

railing  accusations  from  one  side  or  the  other ;  to  the 
intolerant  parson,  who  tells  his  people  that  the  first 
Dissenter  was  Cain;  or  to  the  Baptist  leader,  who, 
in  speaking  recently  of  the  Churches  of  Ireland  and 
England,  compared  them  to  Ananias  and  Sapphira, 
and  foretold  a  like  destruction.  No,  we  must  "let 
all  bitterness,  and  wrath,  and  anger,  and  clamour, 
and  evil  speaking,  be  put  away  from  us,  with  all 
malice ; "  and  then,  when  this  high  and  holy  am- 
bition, the  reunion  of  Christians,  is  prayerfully, 
tenderly  studied  and  discussed  by  those  who  love 
the  church  or  who  love  the  chapel,  only  because  they 
believe  in  their  hearts  that  in  the  church  or  in  the 
chapel  they  can  comprehend  more  clearly  "  the  truth 
as  it  is  in  Jesus  " — then,  and  then  only,  can  we  await 
in  sure  and  certain  hope  the  promised  benediction 
of  God. 

All  earnest  Christians  hate  strife  and  yearn  for 
peace.  It  is  the  unstable  and  the  insincere,  not 
having  the  faith,  nor  the  courage,  to  give  their  life 
to  God,  who  are  loud  in  controversy,  and  try  to 
believe  that  they  are  religious,  because  they  are  ever 
denouncing  the  weaknesses  and  protesting  against 
the  mistakes  of  others.  It  is  these  men  whose 
counsel,  like  Moloch's,  is  for  open  war,  who  delight 
in  magnifying  the  differences  between  Church  and 
Dissent,  who  say  to  all  men,  "  Be  avenged  of  your 
adversary,"  instead  of  "  Sirs,  ye  are  brethren."  At 
the  Church  Congress,  the  other  day,  one  of  the 
speakers  told  us,  that  in  passing  through  the  streets 


300  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

he  noticed  a  crowd  of  boys,  evidently  influenced  by 
a  great  excitement,  and  he  found  on  inquiring  that 
they  were  anxiously  instigating  two  of  their  com- 
panions to  fight.  So  he  addressed  himself  to  the 
principals  for  whom  a  duel  was  proposed,  and  asked 
them,  "  Do  you  want  to  fight  ? "  and  when  they 
promptly  answered,  "No,  sir,"  then  said  he,  "Don't," 
and  they  didn't.  They  shook  hands,  to  the  disgust 
and  dispersion  of  those  truculent  young  rascals,  who 
shouted  for  the  battle. 

And  this  suggests  a  question,  serious  and  sad — 
Who  shall  be  first  to  hold  out  the  hand  of  friendship  ? 
The  answer  is  plain  as  painful — The  one  who  pro- 
voked the  quarrel,  the  Church  of  England. 

Let  me  speak  of  facts  within  my  own  experience. 
In  my  boyhood  and  early  youth  I  never  even  saw 
the  man  to  whom  had  been  entrusted  the  spiritual 
charge  of  the  parish  in  which  I  lived.  He  did  not 
reside  in  the  same  county.  A  curate  had  lodgings 
five  miles  away,  and  came  to  us  once  a  week  for  one 
brief,  cold,  heartless  service.  My  memory  recalls 
him  as  he  stands,  with  his  overcoat,  hat,  and  riding- 
whip  upon  the  Holy  Table,  asking  from  the  sexton 
whether  there  were  any  infants  to  be  baptized  (at 
home,  of  course,  in  a  pudding-basin),  or  any  dead  to 
be  buried  in  a  churchyard,  which  was  the  village 
playground,  and  where  horses  were  turned  out  to 
graze.  The  sparrows  twittered  and  the  bats  glided 
silently  overhead,  the  beetles  crawled  over  the  damp, 
broken  floor  below ;  prayers,  canticles,  psalms,  were 


THE  CHURCH  AND  DISSENT,  301 

read  by  the  parson  and  his  m8-a-viSy  the  clerk,  only ; 
and  then,  as  you  have  seen  at  a  circus  the  active 
horseman  drop  his  outward  raiment,  and  suddenly 
assume  a  new  costume  and  character,  so  was  the 
surplice  hastily  doffed,  and  the  preacher  gave  us  a 
sermon,  old  and  dingy  as  the  gown  in  which  it  was 
preached.  There  was  no  visiting,  no  teaching,  no 
almsgiving,  no  sympathy,  no  love.  The  shepherds 
ate  of  the  fat  and  clothed  themselves  with  the  wool, 
but  they  did  not  feed  the  flock.  Was  it  strange  that 
the  sheep  should  wander,  when  the  fold  was  un- 
guarded and  the  pasture  bare  ?  Was  it  strange  that 
men  who  felt  that  they  had  their  souls  to  save,  and 
had  found  a  Saviour,  should  exhort  and  encourage 
one  another,  and  should  assemble  themselves  together 
where  they  could,  because  the  temple  of  the  Lord 
was  closed  ?  I  say  the  memory  of  those  men  is 
blessed;  and,  though  you  may  affirm  that  their  suc- 
cessors in  many  instances  have  not  their  devoted 
piety,  that  they  seem  very  often  to  be  influenced  by 
prejudice  rather  than  by  principle,  and  that  in  these 
days,  when  the  Church  is  awake  and  putting  on  her 
strength,  they  cannot  plead  the  same  just  motives 
for  separation,  I  say,  instead  of  being  deluded  by 
Satan — instead  of  hating  those  whom  she  has  wronged 
— instead  of  denouncing  and  deriding,  the  Church  is 
bound  to  regard  Dissent  with  shame  and  humility, 
to  pray  with  all  her  heart,  to  ponder  with  all  her 
mind,  and  to  work  with  all  her  might  and  means, 
for  reunion  with  those  whom,  had  she  been  faithful 


302  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

to  her  trust,  she  would  not  have  alienated,  estranged, 
and  lost. 

And,  again,  it  must  be  remembered  that  in  address- 
ing Dissenters  you  accost  them  by  a  title  which  they 
do  not  own.  They  will  tell  you  that  they  are  con- 
stant to  a  religion  in  which  many  of  them  were  born, 
and  that  they  believe  in  it  as  firmly  as  you  believe 
in  yours.  Or  perhaps  they  may  say  that  you  may 
call  them  Dissenters,  if  you  please,  inasmuch  as  the 
history  of  religion  is  the  history  of  Dissent,  the  East 
from  the  West,  England  from  Rome,  Geneva  from 
England,  Protestant  from  Catholic,  Nonconformist 
from  Churchmen ;  differences  of  administration,  they 
may  argue,  but  from  the  same  Spirit.  And  though 
you  feel  sure  that  they  are  wrong,  and  that  disunion 
is  wrong,  is  there  not  yet  another  consideration  which 
should  make  us  very  gentle,  very  careful,  when  we  are 
tempted  to  reproach  or  reform  ?  I  mean  the  conscious- 
ness of  dissent  between  our  own  will  and  God's  will, 
the  voice  of  the  prophet  sounding  in  our  ears,  "  Your 
iniquities  have  separated  between  you  and  your  God." 

Of  this  I  am  quite  sure,  that  while  all  denunciations, 
all  demands  of  allegiance,  all  satire,  however  caustic, 
all  mere  controversial  arguments,  will  repel  rather 
than  attract,  that  spirit  of  humility  which  recognizes 
a  wrong  and  seeks  to  repair  it,  will  evoke  the 
sympathy  for  which  it  prays  and  works.  It  may 
be  despised  by  the  arrogant,  misunderstood  by  the 
ignorant,  mistaken  for  weakness,  for  cowardice,  for 
deceit,  by  the  suspicious ;  but  it  will  be  appreciated 


THE   CHURCH  AND  DISSENT.  303 

by  good  and  generous  men.     Though  the  enterprise 

seems   sometimes   hopeless,  and  we  sigh,  "  I  labour 

for  peace;  but  when  I  speak  unto  them  thereof  they 

make  ready  to  battle ;  "  if  we  will  only  "  let  patience 

have  her  perfect  work/'   if  we  will  only  "  learn  to 

labour  and  to  wait,"  though  we  may  not  see  in  this 

world  the  results  for  which  we  toil  (and  we  are  but 

as  men  clearing  the  ground  from  ruins,  that  others 

may   rebuild,   but   as   men    ploughing    and   sowing, 

breaking  up  fallow  ground),  be  sure  that  there  shall 

come  hereafter,  in  the  good  time  of  the  Almighty, 

first  the  blade  and  then  the  ear,  and  then  the  full 

corn  in  the  ear.     God  encourages  this  faith  and  hope. 

At  a  mission  which  I  conducted  no  long  time  ago 

in  this  diocese,  only  two  or  three  Dissenters  attended 

our  first  services  ;  but  when,  in  one  of  the  addresses, 

I  expressed  the  views   which   I  have   expressed   to 

you  on  the  spirit  in  which,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  the 

Church  should  regard  Nonconformists,  they  came  in 

numbers  ;   indeed,   the    last    night    of    the    mission 

(Sunday)  they  closed   their  chapels,  that  all  might 

come  to  it.      Nor  can  I  refrain,  though  I  be  accused 

of  egotism   (and  yet  how   can   one   prefer  facts  to 

theories,  or  relate  our  experience,  without  it  ?),  nor 

can  I  refrain  from  repeating  a  compliment  paid  to 

me  by  a  worthy  old  Wesleyan,  when  he  remarked 

to   the  vicar    of  his   parish,    for   whom  I  had   been 

preaching  a  harvest  sermon,  "  They  tell  me  he's  one 

of  them  Romans,  but  I  like  to  hear  the  man."     Why  ? 

because  our  hearts  were  united  by  their  love  of  the 


304  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

Lord  Jesus;  "aud  this  commandment  have  we  from 
Him,  That  he  who  loveth  God  love  his  brother  also." 

But  while  history  and  conscience  teach  us  humility, 
they  bid  us  also  to  be  honest,  and  loyal  and  brave. 
They  repeat  to  us  the  words  which  Bishop  Phillpotts, 
of  Exeter,  addressed  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury : 
"  My  lord,  no  good  ever  yet  came  from  the  sacrifice 
of  truth  to  peace."     They  warn  us  that  when  great 
cracks  break  out  in  our  walls  and  ceilings,  it  won't 
do   to   daub   with  untempered  mortar,  and  paste  a 
pretty  paper  over,  and  say,  "  How  nice  it  looks ! " 
but  we  must  strengthen  the  foundation  of  the  bouse. 
Let  us  be  sincere,  candid,  outspoken  to  each  other; 
let  us  not  waste  our  breath  and  our  soap  in  blowing 
bubbles  which   so  quickly  burst,  but  let  us  utilize 
them  in  earnest  pleading  for  the  truth,  and  in  washing 
our  hands  and  faces.     Don't  let  us  deceive  one  another 
with  false  notions  that  separation  is  strength — (behold 
how  good  and  joyful  a  thing  it  is,  brethren,  not  to 
dwell   together  in  unity),  and   that  every  man  may 
do  that  which  is  right  in  his  own  eyes,  if  it  seemeth 
to  him   to  be  right.     Oh,  beware  of  that  easy  and 
greasy  benevolence  whose  text  is,  "  It  does  not  matter," 
"  there  lives  more  faith  in  honest  doubt,  believe  me, 
than  in  half  the  creeds ; "  because  so  many  love  not 
the   truth  well   enough  to  contend  earnestly  for  it. 
Men  talk  about  concessions  of  Church  principles  and 
Church  property ;  they  are  not  ours  to  concede. 

Let  me  briefly  illustrate  my  meaning,  both  as  to 
principle  and  practice. 


THE   CHURCH  AND  DISSENT,  305 

So  long  as  the  Church  of  England  tells  us,  in  the 
preface  to  her  Ordination  Offices,  that  "from  the 
Apostles'  time  there  have  been  three  orders  of  ministers 
in  Christ's  Church,  bishops,  and  priests,  and  deacons," 
and  in  her  twenty-third  Article,  that  "  it  is  not  lawful 
for  any  man  to  take  upon  him  the  office  of  public 
preaching,  or  ministering  the  sacraments  in  the  con- 
gregation, before  he  be  lawfully  called  and  sent,"  we 
Churchmen  are  bound  to  maintain  that  there  are 
three  Christian  orders  in  the  Church,  and  that  "  a 
religious  community  is  not  duly  and  fully  a  Church 
without  them." 

Let  us  follow  the  example  of  our  heroic  chief,*  and 
not  be  ashamed  of  our  faith.  We  shall  be  called 
bigots,  sacerdotal  despots,  and  the  like,  but  we  shall 
induce  thoughtful  men  to  make  inquiries,  and  some 
to  think  with  us.  The  Bishop  of  Lincoln's  pastoral 
to  the  Wesleyans  was  denounced  as  narrow-minded 
and  repellent.  But  what  has  been  the  result  ?  Out 
of  sixty- three  students  who  have  entered  the  Theo- 
logical College  at  Lincoln,  with  a  view  to  taking  holy 
orders,  ten  have  come  from  the  Nonconformists,  of 
whom  seven  are  Wesleyans,  and  these  have  stated 
that  many  others  would  follow  their  example  were 
they  not  prevented  by  difficulties  which  arise,  not  in 
foro  conscienticB,  not  from  spiritual,  but  from  social 
and  financial,  sources.!    Churchman  or  Nonconformist, 

*  Bishop  Christoplier  Wordsworth. 

t  The  bishop  wrote,  in  acknowledging  a  copy  of  this  paper,  "  By 
a  remarkable  coincidence,  it  came  to  me  with  overtures  from  three 
Wesleyans,  asking  Ordination  in  the  Church." 

X 


305  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

let  US  say  what  we  think.  When  we  had  a  meeting 
some  two  years  ago  in  the  town  of  Nottingham,  as  to 
the  reunion  of  Christians,  an  esteemed  member  of  the 
Baptist  Communion  told  us  cordially  and  truthfully 
that  the  chief  difficulty  presented  itself  in  this  question 
of  government.  "  For  example,"  he  said,  "  I  call  myself 
a  bishop."  I  admit  that  this  difficulty  is  a  gigantic 
hindrance  and  discouragement,  so  great  as  to  make 
any  corporate  return  of  the  sects  for  the  present 
hopeless ;  but  it  is  well  to  know  what  the  difficulty 
is,  and  if  we  have  only  faith  in  our  Church  we  shall 
move  mountains. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  spirit  in  which,  as  it  seems  to 
me,  we  Churchmen  should  regard  Dissent.  May  I 
offer  to  you,  in  conclusion,  a  few  short  suggestions 
which  are,  I  hope,  of  a  practical  character  ?  Church- 
people  should  read,  and  should  be  taught  by  pastors 
and  parents,  the  history  of  the  Church,  and  her  claims 
as  the  ancient  Church  of  this  land  upon  their  obedience 
and  love. 

Ask  the  first  dozen  men  you  meet  why  they 
belong  to  the  Church  rather  than  to  any  other  com- 
munity of  Christians,  and  you  will  be  favoured  in 
many  cases  with  arguments  which  a  clever  Noncon- 
formist would  demolish  as  easily  as  your  little  brother 
puffed  down  in  childhood  the  card  house  of  which 
you  were  so  proud.  And  Churchmen  should  acquaint 
themselves  with  the  reasons  why  Nonconformists  do 
not  conform,  and  then,  instead  of  sneer  and  ridicule, 
and  the  notion  that  Dissent  springs  only  from  the 


THE   CHURCH  AND  DISSENT.  307 

spirit  of  opposition,  there  will  be,  towards  those  who 
are  true  to  their  principles,  respect  and  a  desire  to 
conciliate.  The  Church  should  extend  her  ministra- 
tions and  her  means  of  grace  among  the  classes  with 
whom  Dissent  has  its  chief  influence.  We  need  large 
churches,  free  and  open.  We  want  services  solemn, 
reverent,  devotional,  but  bright  and  simple  and  short, 
to  which  working  men  can  go,  if  they  please,  before 
and  after  their  work.  We  want  our  churches  to  be 
not  houses  of  prayer  only,  nor  houses  of  preaching, 
nor  houses  of  music  only,  but  that  which  so  many 
churches  profess  to  be,  but  are  not,  "  places  of  worship." 
Places  of  praise  and  thanksgiving  from  the  hearts  of 
men,  who  know  that  the  Lord  is  in  His  holy  place, 
who  know  that  the  King  is  on  His  throne,  who  feel 
His  Holy  Spirit  in  their  souls,  who  are  sure  that  with 
angels  and  archangels,  and  all  the  company  of  heaven, 
they  laud  and  magnify  the  glorious  Name,  who  believe 
and  realize  the  communion  of  saints. 

A  few  words  specially  as  to  preaching. 

A  man  who  only  reads  other  men's  sermons,  has 
mistaken  his  vocation — he  is  too  idle,  too  ignorant, 
or  too  insincere  to  preach.  Dr.  Dollinger  said  to  Mr. 
Gladstone,  "  Depend  upon  it,  if  the  Church  of  England 
is  to  make  way,  and  be  a  thoroughly  national  Church, 
the  clergy  must  give  up  this  preaching  from  written 
sermons."  I  believe  that  all  honest  men  could  do 
this  efficiently ;  because,  in  the  words  of  one  of  the 
most  impressive  of  modern  preachers,  "  I  think  it  no 
extravagance   to   say,   that   a   very  inferior   sermon 


308  ADDRESSES   TO    WORKING  MEN. 

delivered  "without  book,  answers  the  purpose  for 
which  all  sermons  are  delivered  more  perfectly  than 
one  of  great  merit,  if  it  be  written  and  read." 

And  why  not  more  preachers  ?  Why  should  not 
laymen  be  authorized  to  preach  as  of  old,  as  the  Fran- 
ciscans ?  The  bishops  could  empower  laymen  to  preach, 
just  as  Alexander  of  Jerusalem  licensed  Origen,  before 
he  was  in  Orders,  not  only  to  teach  but  to  preach 
in  the  catechetical  schools  of  Alexandria.  If  not  in 
churches,  in  mission-rooms,  schoolrooms,  and  wherever 
else  they  please,  so  that  in  church  and  out  of  church  the 
poor  might  have  the  gospel  preached  to  them — not  that 
vague,  undefined,  mysterious  gospel  which  so  many 
talk  about  but  so  few  explain,  which  means  anything 
or  nothing,  but  the  gospel  in  its  purity,  as  our  Lord 
preached  it.  "When  thou  doest  thine  alms — when 
thou  prayest — when  thou  fastest — Do  this  iu  remem- 
brance of  Me;"  "If  any  man  will  come  after  Me,  let 
him  take  up  his  cross  and  follow  Me;"  "He  that 
doeth  the  will  shaU  know  of  the  doctrine ; "  "I  was 
an  hungred,  and  ye  gave  Me  meat." 

Preaching  His  words,  and  following  His  example, 
we  must  draw  nearer  to  each  other,  as  we  draw  nearer 
to  Him,  because  (remember  this  above  all  things),  if 
we  follow  His  example,  we  shall  pray  for  unity ;  and 
this  we  can  all  do,  Churchmen  or  Nonconformists — we 
can  pray  that  He  would  gather  together  in  one  the 
children  of  God  that  are  scattered  abroad.  Yes,  if  in 
a  spirit  of  penitent  humility,  and  yet  with  a  courageous 
faith,  if  striving  earnestly  to  redeem  the  past,  to  teach 


THE  CHURCH  AND  DISSENT.  309 

the  truth,  to  preach  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the 
saints,  if  bearing  one  another's  burdens,  those  burdens 
which  oppress  us  body  and  soul,  we  pray  that  we  may 
be,  like  the  multitude  of  those  that  first  believed,  of 
one  heart  and  one  soul,  in  His  own  good  time  and 
way  He  will  give  us  our  heart's  desire ;  and  in  that 
battle  between  good  and  evil,  faith  and  unbelief, 
Christ  and  Antichrist,  which  is  ever  raging  around 
and  in  us,  the  Church  of  England  shall  regain  the 
alliance  she  has  lost,  by  proving  that  she  has  the  right 
and  the  power  to  lead. 


XIX. 

ON  THE  CAUSES,   THE   CONDUCT,   AND 
THE   CONSEQUENCES  OF   SIN.* 

I.  The  Causes  of  Sin. 

"  A  CERTAIN  man  had  two  sons,  and  the  younger  of 
them  said  to  his  father,  Father,  give  me  the  portion 
of  goods  that  falleth  to  me."  And  in  these  words 
"we  read  that  primary  cause  of  sin  which  has 
brought  so  much  shame  and  sorrow  to  all  sorts  and 
conditions  of  men,  so  much  ruin  to  body  and  soul 
— discontent — discontent  with  home.  With  a  kind, 
affectionate  father;  with  abundance — bread  enough 
and  to  spare ;  with  servants  to  minister  to  all  his 
wants ;  with  youth,  and  health,  and  strength  ;  with 
few  responsibilities  and  cares ;  yet  was  he  discontent. 
What  was  the  cause  ?  Whence  blew  that  chilly  wind 
into  the  warm  atmosphere  of  love  ?  Whence  rose 
that  gloomy  cloud  which  cast  its  shadow  on  the  sun- 
shine of  his  morning  life  ?  Did  some  malignant  voice 
whisper  in  his  ear  that  the  gentle  rule  of  his  father, 
the  regular  and  innocent  routine  of  his  daily  life,  was 

♦  These  addresses  have  been  published  in  Good    Words,  and  are 
reprinted  by  permission. 


THE   CAUSES  OF  SIN.  31I 

irksome  and  monotonous  ?  Was  he  jealous  of  his  elder 
brother  ?  I  dare  say  that  brother  was  not  so  kind  as 
he  might  have  been,  for  we  read  further  on  in  the 
history  that  he  was  ungenerous  and  hard.  But  with 
all  his  temptations — and,  of  course,  he  was  tempted, 
for  Satan  tempts  us  all — and  with  all  his  troubles,  for 
it  is  a  world  of  sorrow,  he  had  far  more  to  make  him 
joyous  than  sad.  The  lot  had  fallen  unto  him  in  a  fair 
ground,  and  not  in  the  dry  desert,  not  in  the  bleak 
wilderness  of  life.      Why,  then,  was  he  not  content  ? 

Alas !  is  it  not  within  our  own  experience  how  the 
fretful  cravinof  for  somethinor  which  we  were  for- 
bidden  to  have,  moved  us  to  do  evil — to  take  that 
which  was  not  ours,  to  say  that  which  was  not  true, 
to  do  that  which  we  knew  was  wrong ;  the  first  act 
of  impurity,  the  first  of  intemperance  ? 

When  we  review  the  past,  when  conscience  says  to 
memory,  "  Thou  writest  bitter  things  against  me,  and 
causest  me  to  possess  the  iniquities  of  my  youth," 
how  many  of  these  sorrowful  regrets  may  be  traced 
to  a  fretful  discontent  ?  What  a  shadow  it  casts  even 
upon  the  sunny  days  of  childhood,  to  remember  how 
impatient  we  were  with  those  who  loved  us  so  dearly, 
how  we  presumed  on  an  affection  which  could  never 
tire !  We  think  upon  the  past,  look  upon  some 
letter,  some  photograph,  some  work  that  was  done 
by  a  vanished  hand,  hear  some  song  that  was  sung 
by  a  voice  that  is  still,  stand  by  some  sacred  grave, 
and  we  sigh  to  ourselves  and  say,  "Oh,  how  un- 
worthy I  was  of  all  that  tenderness  !  how  I  vexed 


312  ADDRESSES  TO    WO  RISING  MEN. 

that  anxious  sympathy !  how  I  tried  that  gentle  en- 
durance !  how  obstinately,  how  selfishly,  I  held  on  my 
stubborn  way,  though  I  saw  the  anguish  of  that  loving 
soul,  when  it  besought  me,  and  I  would  not  hear  1 " 

The  pride,  which  makes  us  wise  in  our  own  con- 
ceit, is  largely  blended  with  this  spirit  of  impatience 
and  a  primary  cause  of  sin.  How  many  have  said 
with  this  younger  son,  "I  am  not  appreciated  here 
in  this  quiet  place,  this  dull  home  out  of  the  world. 
I  have  talents,  and  I  would  have  them  admired.  I 
am  nobody  here,  only  a  subordinate.  I  want  more 
liberty  and  independence — to  be  my  own  master,  to 
go  where  I  will,  speak  as  I  like,  do  as  I  like.  Why 
should  I  wait  for  the  portion  of  goods  which  falleth 
to  me  ?  Why  should  I  not  enjoy  it  now — amid  new 
faces  and  new  scenes,  with  gay  friends  and  merry 
companions  of  my  own  age  and  tastes  ? " 

To  discontent  and  pride  must  be  added  curiosity, 
that  subtle  source  of  so  much  deadly  sin.  For  there 
arises  amid  plenty  a  new  appetite,  a  mysterious 
craving  for  something,  at  first  we  know  not  what.  It 
casts  a  shadow  upon  the  pure,  sparkling  rivulet  of 
boyhood,  which  darkens  as  the  stream  grows  broad 
and  deep.  It  is  the  accursed  longing,  inherited  by 
every  child  of  Adam,  to  have  some  experience  of  sin, 
to  taste  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good 
and  evil.  So  this  younger  son  would  go  into  the 
world  and  see  what  its  pleasures  were  like.  Some, 
it  may  be,  who  had  already  devoted  themselves  to 
these  pleasures  had  excited  his  envy,  as  he  had  seen 


I 


THE   CAUSES  OF  SIN.  313 

them,  "  pride  in  their  port,  defiance  in  their  eye ; " 
always  rejoicing,  as  it  seemed,  in  loud  and  reckless 
merriment,  in  such  prosperity  (as  the  Psalmist  saw 
them),  and  coming  to  no  misfortune  like  other  folk. 
They  had  sneered,  it  may  be,  at  his  dull,  secluded 
life.  They  even  tried  to  persuade  him  that  it  was 
unmanly,  and  something  to  be  ashamed  of,  not  to 
have  any  knowledge  of  gratifications  which  were  so 
natural  and  so  common.  Why  should  he  be  different 
from  others  ?  Why  should  he  set  up  to  be  a  saint  ? 
Religion  might  be  all  very  well  for  the  old  and  the 
sickly,  for  women  and  priests,  but  what  had  it  to 
give  to  him?  Perhaps  they  told  him  that  "youth 
must  have  its  fling" — profane  and  foolish  words, 
as  though  God  had  made  sin  a  necessity,  or  as  though 
there  were  no  noble  ambitions,  no  brave  preparations, 
no  manly  recreations,  to  occupy  the  mind  of  youth. 

Perhaps  love  of  money,  that  root  of  all  evil,  was  in 
this,  as  in  countless  cases,  a  cause  of  sin.  "  Give  me 
the  portion  of  goods  that  falleth  unto  me."  Did  he 
long  to  count  the  silver  and  gloat  upon  the  gold  ? 
Money — we  know  that  it  has  with  some  a  marvel- 
lous attraction  —  the  rustling  of  the  crisp,  clean 
notes  to  the  rich,  the  gleaming  coins  to  the  poor, 
for  its  own  sake  as  well  as  for  that  which  it  can  buy. 
There  is  no  such  slavish  idolatry  as  that  of  money, 
which  loves  the  bank-book  better  than  the  Bible ; 
and  the  worshipper  is  well  named  miser — miserable. 

What  practical  lessons  may  these  thoughts  leave 
with  us  ? 


314  ADDRESSES   TO   WORKING  MEN. 

That  those  who  have  the  blessing  of  a  home,  where 
hearts  are  of  each  other  sure,  where  there  is  plenty, 
and  where  there  is  peace,  should  thank  God  heartily 
and  often  for  the  most  precious  of  all  earthly  posses- 
sions, for  ''the  only  happiness  which  has  survived 
the  Fall"  That  they  should  pray  that  He  will 
continue  this  precious  heritage  to  them  and  to  their 
children,  remembering  how  much  depends  upon  them- 
selves. That  they  who  hold  rule  in  a  household 
mainly,  but  all  the  members  individually,  make  or 
mar  the  happiness  of  a  home.  Persistent  selfishness 
in  any  form — idleness,  greediness,  suUenness,  jealousy, 
disobedience — like  a  false  note  in  an  instrument,  will 
spoil  the  harmony. 

Charity,  which  begins  at  home,  means  more  than 
the  love  of  children.  In  the  home  where  there  are 
servants  it  remembers  that  "  God  is  no  respecter  of 
persons;  "  that  one  soul  is  just  as  dear  as  another  to 
Him,  who  died  for  us  all ;  that  we  are  all  servants  of 
one  Master. 

Charity  is  not  bounded  by  brick  walls.  You  may 
do  something  to  make  other  homes  happy  as  well  as 
your  own.  You  may  help  the  weak,  visit  the  sick, 
and  comfort  sorrow.     Do  you  ever  try  ? 


11.  The  Conduct  of  Sin. 

"Not  many  days  aftervjards  he  gathered  all  together. 
Not  many  days ;  for  lust,  when  it  hath  conceived, 
quickly  bringeth  forth  sin,  and  sin  quickly  bringeth 


THE  CONDUCT  OF  SIN.  315 

forth  its  first  and  worst  influence — selfishness.  There 
was  still  some  hesitation.  The  voice  which  always 
pleads  so  distinctly,  so  pursuasively,  until  the  ears 
are  dull  of  hearing  that  they  cannot  hear,  said,  "  Do 
not  go.  Enter  not  into  the  path  of  the  wicked,  and 
go  not  into  the  way  of  evil  men."  Who  has  not 
heard  it  ?  "  It  is  not  yours ;  do  not  take  it.  It  is 
not  true ;  do  not  say  it.  It  is  cruel ;  it  is  deceitful ; 
it  is  profane ;  it  is  impure  and  unclean ;  oh,  do  not 
doit!" 

What  hindrances  and  barriers  hath  God  set  up 
between  the  soul  and  sin !  As  the  arteries  in  our 
bodies  are  protected  by  the  greater  bones,  so  hath 
He  made  safeguards  for  the  souls  of  His  elect.  Who 
has  not  some  experience  how,  when  he  was  going, 
like  Balaam,  against  God's  bidding,  upon  some  un- 
righteous errand,  an  angel  met  him  in  the  way? 
Even  when  the  struggle  with  temptation  was  over, 
when  the  spirit  had  surrendered  to  the  flesh,  and  it 
seemed  that  the  opportunity  had  come,  and  the  sin 
was  inevitable,  God  saves  from  the  jaws  of  death. 
The  voice  of  a  little  child  in  the  distance  has  saved 
men  and  women  from  deadly  sin.*  The  smile  upon  a 
mother's  picture  has  stayed  the  hand  of  suicide. 

But  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  do  evil.  So,  not 
many  days  after,  he  gathered  all  together.     Indeed, 


♦  "  A  little  child's  soft  sleeping  face 

The  murderer's  knife  ere  now  hath  stayed 
The  adulterer's  eye,  so  foul  and  base, 
Is  of  a  little  child  afraid." 


3l6  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

it  must  havo  been  a  sorrowful  sight  to  see  that 
wayward,  wilful  boy — for  he  was  hardly  more — •' 
flushed  and  excited,  hurrying  to  and  fro,  claiming  all 
that  he  could,  regardless  of  the  feelings,  of  the  dis- 
comfort of  others ;  and  then  turning  his  back  upon 
parents,  kindred,  companions,  all  the  old  haunts  and 
associations  of  his  life,  without  a  tear  'or  sigh  of 
regret,  rather  congratulating  himself  that  he  had 
gathered  all,  got  as  much  as  he  could ;  and  so,  little 
thinking  that  he  left  behind  him  all  that  was  really 
precious — love,  purity,  and  peace — with  his  own 
hands  he  flung  away  the  rope  which  held  him  to  that 
peaceful,  happy  shore,  and  drifted  into  unknown 
seas. 

He  took  his  journey  into  a  far  country.  Is  not 
that  always  the  way  of  sin,  to  get  away  from  the 
friends  and  guides  of  its  youth,  and  from  the  proper 
sphere  of  duty  ?  First  it  frets  against  the  dulness 
of  home ;  it  is  sullen  and  disobedient,  and  then,  when 
reproved,  rebellious.  "  I  can  bear  this  slavery  no 
longer,"  it  says ;  "  I  can  endure  this  cant  no  more.  I 
will  not  be  scolded  and  preached  at.  I  will  go  into 
some  far  country  where  there  is  freedom,  where  I  can 
do  that  which  I  desire  to  do." 

He  who  is  at  enmity  with  himself,  with  his  better 
self,  is  at  enmity  with  God  and  with  goodness.  The 
very  presence  of  religious  persons  is  hateful  to  the 
depraved;  the  mean  man  shuns  the  generous;  the 
idle  slinks  away  from  the  industrious ;  the  drunkard 
from  the  temperate,  because  vice  cannot  endure  the 


THE  CONDUCT  OF  SIN.  317 

company  of  virtue :  for  what  fellowship  hath  righteous- 
ness with  unrighteousness,  and  what  communion  hath 
light  with  darkness  ?  and  sin  loves  darkness  rather 
than  light. 

And  then  in  that  far  country,  a  land  in  which, 
as  writes  St.  Augustine,  the  sinner,  God  forgetting, 
seems  to  be  by  God  forgot,  "he  wasted  his  sub- 
stance in  riotous  living."  There  was  no  restraint 
upon  him  now.  None  to  admonish,  plenty  to  admire, 
he  was  "  lord  of  himself,  that  heritage  of  woe."  So 
he  not  only  lost  all  sense  of  modesty,  prudence,  tem- 
perance, but  he  began  to  glory  in  his  shame ;  to  fancy 
that  there  was  something  high-spirited  and  generous 
in  extravagance  and  waste — to  be  the  favourite  (as  he 
thinks)  of  some  depraved  woman,  who  will  leave  him 
when  he  has  spent  his  all. 

They  made  him  believe,  as  thousands  before  him, 
and  as  thousands  now,  that  he  was  the  prince  of  good 
fellows,  the  leader  of  his  set,  the  life  of  his  company; 
and  so  in  riotous  living  and  with  harlots  he  wasted 
his  substance. 

So  that  younger  son  took  all  the  goods  that  fell  to 
him,  and  wasted  them.  He  gathered  all  together,  and 
then  scattered  it  to  the  winds.  The  money,  which 
for  years  had  been  accumulating  for  him,  which  had 
been  earned,  it  may  be,  by  honest  industry,  which  by 
a  prudent  use  might  have  been  amplified,  have  brought 
him  all  the  comforts  of  life,  and  been  bequeathed  to 
his  children's  children — it  was  all  spent;  not  only 
spent,  but  wasted.     Noretuni;  nothing  to  show  for 


3l8  ADDRESSES  TO   WORKING  MEN. 

it ;  not  a  house,  not  a  field — all  gone ;  as  utterly  lost 
to  him  as  though  he  had  sunk  it  in  the  sea.  With 
some  of  that  gold,  for  ever  vanished,  what  kindly 
deeds  he  might  have  done !  He  might  have  encouraged 
industry,  rewarded  merit,  helped  those  who  could  not 
help  themselves ;  the  blessing  of  him  that  was  ready 
to  perish  might  have  come  upon  him,  and  he  might 
have  caused  the  widow's  heart  to  sing  for  joy.  He 
had  wasted  it  all  in  wild  drunken  revelry  with 
harlots. 

It  was  not  only  his  money  he  had  wasted ;  it  was 
his  substance — all  that  he  had ;  his  being,  his  time, 
his  very  self — "  all  the  gifts  of  nature  and  of  grace." 
Look  at  that  marvellous  picture  by  Hogarth  of  the 
"  Rake's  Progress,"  and  you  will  see  the  helpless,  hope- 
less prostration,  physical  and  mental,  the  miserable 
degradation,  vainly  trying  to  hide  itself  beneath  a 
feeble  idiotic  smile,  of  the  ruined  spendthrift. 

A  wasted  life  !  God  forbid  that  any  of  us  in  read- 
ing this  history  should  deceive  ourselves  with  this 
notion,  that  there  are  no  prodigals  but  those  who  give 
themselves  to  sensual  indulgences,  to  reckless  ex- 
travagance, to  riotous  living  with  harlots.  There  are 
countless  Christians,  whom  the  world  appraises  as 
"  highly  respectable,"  who  break  no  laws  and  make 
no  enemies,  but  who  are  living  wasted  lives,  doing 
absolutely  nothing  for  their  souls,  their  Saviour  (as 
they  call  Him),  or  their  fellow-men ;  they  waste  their 
time  in  idleness,  and  because  they  do  no  positive  harm 
they  try  to  think  all  is  well.     They  forget  that  if 


THE   CONSEQUENCES  OF  SIN.  319 

land  is  not  ploughed  and  sown  it  brings  forth  weeds 
of  itself.  They  waste  their  money.  They  pay  their 
debts  and  all  that  comes  against  them,  as  they  say ; 
and  because  there  are  many  neighbours  in  debt  or  dis- 
honest, they  are  satisfied,  and  never  deny  themselves 
that  they  may  give  to  others.  In  vain  the  great  Judge 
Himself  has  revealed  to  them  that  He  will  welcome 
to  His  glory  those  only  who  for  His  sake  have  done 
works  of  mercy.  We  waste  our  high  gifts  of  thought 
and  reason  on  continuous  debates  upon  small  subjects, 
futile  speculations  upon  mysteries  which  we  cannot 
solve,  ill-natured  sarcasm,  literature  which  teaches  us 
nothing.  But  it  is  written,  "  Thou  shalt  serve  the 
Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  mind ;  "  "  His  testimonies 
shall  be  thy  study ;  "  "  Let  this  mind  be  in  you  which 
was  in  Christ  Jesus." 

Ill  The  Consequences  of  Sin. 

The  consequences  of  sin,  as  sure  to  follow  as  the 
night  the  day.  Wisdom  crieth  aloud,  "  Be  sure  your 
sins  will  find  you  out,"  but  ignorance  will  not  believe. 

Who  has  not  had  some  experience  of  this  accursed 
fascination  ?  Taught,  entreated,  threatened,  it  seems 
as  though  nothing  but  experience  would  convince. 
"  Youth  on  the  prow,  and  pleasure  at  the  helm,"  the 
sky  so  cloudless  and  the  sea  so  calm,  we  hear  the 
siren's  song  ;  we  will  listen  only  for  a  while,  and  at  a 
safe  distance ;  but  as  we  listen,  smoothly  and  swiftly 
the  vessel  drifts  towards  the  rock. 


320  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

We  will  only  look  into  the  garden  of  forbidden 
fruits,  just  to  see  what  they  are  like,  and  return;  and 
they  are  so  pleasant  to  the  eye  that  we  go  again  to 
gaze ;  and  they  look  so  good  for  food  that  we  touch 
and  taste,  and  when  we  find  that  they  are  sweet  and 
luscious,  not  bitter  or  poisonous,  as  some  had  said,  we 
devour  them  greedily.  There  seems  no  danger  and 
no  harm.  So  we  begin  to  think,  either  that  we  have 
been  frightened  unnecessarily  by  our  conscience  or  by 
our  counsellors,  or  that  the  offence  is  so  trivial  that 
God  takes  no  notice. 

And  I  would  remark  here  that  parents  and  teachers 
sometimes  make  a  great  mistake  when,  right  in 
purpose  but  wrong  in  policy,  they  seek  to  deter  their 
children  and  their  pupils  from  doing  evil  by  assuring 
them  that  sin  is  altogether  a  disappointment ;  that  the 
fruits,  of  which  I  spoke  just  now,  though  fair  to  the 
eye,  like  the  apples  of  Sodom,  are  at  once  ashes  in 
the  mouth ;  that  Satan  has  no  pleasures  to  give  to  his 
dupes,  and  that  the  punishment  of  sin  is  manifest  and 
immediate.  It  would  assuredly  be  more  wise  and 
kind  to  tell  the  w^hole  truth  to  the  young ;  namely, 
that,  though  sin  ever  promises  more  than  it  can 
perform,  in  gratifying  the  lusts  of  the  flesh,  and  the 
lust  of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride  of  life,  it  has  great 
and  sensible  delights.  That  they  may  continue  to 
enjoy  it  for  a  season,  and  may  walk  for  years  in  the 
light  of  its  fire,  and  in  the  sparks  that  it  has  kindled, 
and  may  seem  to  prosper,  and  even  to  come  to  no 
misfortune  like  other  folks,  hut  that  there  never  was 


THE  CONSEQUENCES  OF  SIN.  32 1 

an  exception  to  the  result  of  which  the  prophet 
speaks — "  it  shall  lie  down  in  sorrow  " — it  may  be 
in  bodily  abasement  to  be  scourged  by  the  whips  of 
their  early  vices,  in  mental  abasements  of  loss,  dis- 
honour, and  remorse,  or  (God  grant  it  for  Christ's 
sake  !)  in  the  abasement  of  a  penitent  soul. 

But  the  fears  of  temporal  penalties  deter  very  few 
from  sin ;  the  world  laughs  at  them,  the  flesh  forgets 
them  in  the  fruition  of  its  lust,  the  devil  disputes 
them.  The  only  fear  is  that  of  death  and  the 
"  something  after  death " — of  that  retribution  of 
which  God  has  given  to  His  creatures,  in  all  times 
and  places,  an  instinctive  awe  and  expectation,  which 
will  restrain  from  wickedness. 

But  the  fear  of  the  Lord  is  only  the  beginning 
of  wisdom,  and  our  Father,  our  Saviour,  our  Holy 
Teacher,  gives  us  an  infinitely  more  persuasive  and 
potent  motive  to  keep  our  souls  from  sin.  It  is  love. 
We  love  Him  because  He  first  loved  us ;  the  love  of 
Christ  constraineth  us  ;  the  first  fruit  of  the  Spirit 
is  love;  and  so  we  come  to  love  that  which  God 
loves,  and  to  hate  that  which  He  hates.  For  one 
sinner  scared  from  his  sins,  a  thousand  are  led  gently 
by  the  tender  pleas  of  mercy. 

And  so  to  that  young  spendthrift  of  the  parable 
the  hateful  degradation  and  indigence  of  sin  was  to 
suggest  the  brightness  and  generosity  of  his  father's 
love.  When  he  had  spent  all,  there  arose  a  mighty 
famine  in  that  land,  and  he  began  to  be  in  want.  Of 
whatever  gifts  the  waste  may  have  been,  whether  the 

Y 


322  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

rich  man  has  wasted  thousands,  or  the  poor  man 
pounds ;  whether  the  learned  has  wasted  his  oppor- 
tunities of  teaching,  or  the  ignorant  his  opportunities 
of  learning ;  whether  the  orator  has  been  eloquent  for 
a  bribe,  or  the  artist  has  profaned  his  art,  or  men  in 
authority  have  abused  their  power ;  by  whatsoever 
road  men  have  wandered  from  their  heavenly  home, 
in  whatever  way  they  have  misspent  their  heritage, 
sooner  or  later  comes  a  famine  into  the  soul,  and  they 
begin  to  be  in  want.  "Rejoice,  O  young  man,  in  thy 
youth,  and  let  thine  heart  cheer  thee  in  the  days 
of  thy  youth,  and  in  the  ways  of  thine  heart  and 
in  the  sight  of  thine  eyes;"  set  parents  at  nought, 
ridicule  religion,  speak  evil  of  dignities ;  nay,  waste 
thy  substance,  thy  strength,  thy  beauty,  thy  mind, 
thy  manhood,  thy  soul,  with  harlots,  "  but  know  thou 
that  for  all  these  things  God  shall  bring  thee  into 
judgment." 

Yet  he  hesitated;  he  lingered  on  the  scene  of  his 
sin ;  he  went  and  hired  himself  to  a  citizen  of  that 
country,  as  gamblers  who  have  lost  all  have  been 
seen  doing  menial  service  in  the  place  where  their 
ruin  came.  Still  he  lingered,  as  when  the  Jews  went 
back  to  Jerusalem  after  their  captivity,  some  who 
had  fallen  into  idolatry  having  intermarried  with  the 
women  of  Babylon  remained  behind,  and  are  still 
found  in  the  modern  town  of  Hillel,  which  stands 
within  the  circuit  of  the  ancient  city.  And  he  was 
sent  into  the  fields  to  feed  swine.  Picture  him,  this 
younger  son,  who  in  purple  and  fine  linen  had  fared 


THE   CONSEQUENCES  OF  SIN,  323 

sumptuously  every  day,  waited  upon  by  others,  now 
in  his  faded  finery  feeding  swine ! 

He  who  was  discontented  amid  all  the  comforts 
of  home  is  exposed  to  the  heat  and  storm;  he  who 
had  abundance  would  fain  satisfy  his  hunger  with 
the  husks  which  the  swine  did  eat — would  prey  on 
garbage,  past  feeling,  giving  himself  to  work  all 
uncleanness  with  greediness. 

"And  no  man  gave  to  him"  Sin  is  too  selfish 
to  make  lasting  friendships.  The  worldling  will 
patronize,  or  will  cringe  to  you,  so  long  as  you 
can  minister  to  this  selfishness,  or  lead  it,  but  when 
you  lose  this  power  it  leaves  you.  "Confederacies 
of  vice  and  leagues  of  pleasure"  ignore  the  absent, 
and 

"  He  who  has  but  tears  to  give, 
Must  weep  those  tears  alone." 

Surely  it  is  one  of  the  saddest  experiences  of  life  to 
note,  in  our  visits  to  the  sick  and  to  the  sad,  how 
rarely  the  boon  companions  of  the  club  or  the  tavern 
come  to  see  the  brother  in  adversity,  and  if  they 
come  how  powerless  they  are  to  comfort.  Society 
has  no  ambulance,  no  sisters  of  mercy  for  those  that 
fall  in  its  service.  'Tis  "  Let  the  stricken  deer  go 
weep,  the  hart  ungalled  play."  There  is  the  sound 
of  a  pistol-shot,  and  a  dead  man  lies  in  the  gardens 
of  Monte  Carlo,  but  the  music  and  the  play  go  on. 

And  when  he  came  to  him^self— to  his  real  self — to 
reason,  to  conscience ;  for  he  had  been  living  "  beside 
himself,"  "  out  of  his  mind,"  as  we  say.     Mere  selfish- 


324  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

ness,  worldliness,  sensuality,  not  only  lose  the  power, 
but  the  wish,  to  exercise  the  nobler  faculties.  As 
disease  weakens  the  physical  powers  until  fever 
comes — delirium — it  may  be  death,  so  sin  impairs 
the  perceptive  faculties,  specially  the  discernment 
between  good  and  evil,  until  all  that  is  divine  is 
destroyed,  the  grace  of  God  turned  into  lascivious- 
ness ;  the  soul,  which  was  made  for  heaven,  given  up 
to  the  evil  spirits  of  carnal  lust — to  madness. 

For  sin  is  madness.  Always  in  the  sight  of  God 
and  His  angels  "  the  heart  of  the  sons  of  men  is  full 
of  evil,  and  madness  is  in  their  heart  while  they 
live."  No  lunatic  in  our  asylums  so  mad  as  he  who 
is  resisting  and  defying  God.  In  His  sight  always, 
as  when  the  prophets  wrote  it,  men  are  "  mad  upon 
their  idols" — man's  applause,  woman's  love,  more 
gold,  new  honours. 

Sin  is  madness.  "  It  is  the  nature  of  sin,  not  only 
to  defile,  but  to  infatuate."  It  gradually  incapacitates 
head  and  heart  from  spiritual  apprehensions,  until 
no  argument  convinces,  no  terror  alarms,  no  tender- 
ness softens.  "  They  hear  not  Moses  and  the  prophets, 
neither  would  they  be  persuaded,  though  one  rose 
from  the  dead." 

For  a  time  the  sinner  will  defend  his  sin.  He 
will  dress  it,  and  disguise  and  mask  it.  He  will  give 
it  false  appellations.  He  will  call  lust,  love;  waste, 
generosity ;  licence,  liberty  ;  cheating,  shrewdness ; 
meanness,  economy ;  fear,  prudence ;  deceit,  diplomacy. 
So  he  comes  first  to  lose  his  dread  of  sin,  then  to 


THE   CONSEQUENCES  OF  SIN.  325 

like  it,  to  delight  in  it,  to  make  it  his  idol.  The 
girl  who  blushed  to  hear  an  immodest  word  hath 
no  more  shame  than  Jezebel;  the  boy  who  started 
in  horror  when  he  first  heard  the  profane  oath  hath 
"  opened  his  mouth  in  blasphemies  against  God,"  and 
hardly  knows  when  he  utters  them.  Presumptuous 
sin  hath  got  the  dominion  over  him.  He  is  even 
as  a  man  that  hath  no  strength.  He  is  imad.  How 
commonly  do  we  hear,  as  the  explanation  of  some 
great  crime,  he  was  "mad  with  drink,"  "mad  with 
jealousy,"  "  mad  with  rage  "  ! 

But  this  poor  prodigal,  by  God's  mercy,  came  to 
himself — came  to  his  senses.  First  his  eyes  were 
opened,  the  eyes  which  Satan  had  blinded  so  long, 
and  he  saw  himself. 

He  thought  of  his  home,  its  plenty  and  its  peace, 
and  while  he  was  thus  musing  the  fire  kindled — that 
sacred  fire,  which  had  well-nigh  gone  out  in  the 
temple  of  the  Lord,  his  heart — and  at  last  he  spake 
with  his  tongue  those  momentous  words,  "/  will 
arise,  and  go  to  my  father." 

"  I  will  arise."  There  is  grand  music  in  the  words 
— life,  action,  the  man  in  his  manliness,  in  his  full 
strength  and  stature,  erect,  resolute,  ready  to  do  his 
best.  "  To  rise  " — we  use  the  word  of  all  who  merit 
and  who  win  success ;  the  boy  rising  in  his  school,  the 
young  man  rising  in  his  office,  business,  profession ; 
the  soldier  risen  from  the  ranks,  the  student  taking 
a  high  degree,  the  commoner  raised  to  the  peerage. 

"  To  rise"  what  is  it  but  to  fulfil  the  glorious  pro- 


326  ADDRESSES  TO    WORKING  MEN. 

phecy — "  They  that  wait  upon  the  Lord  shall  renew 
their  strength,  they  shall  mount  up  with  wings 
like  eagles  "  ?  Thither  in  heart  and  soul  continually 
ascending,  whither  our  Saviour  Christ  is  gone  before. 

"And  he  arose,  and  came  to  his  father"  For 
his  was  a  true  repentance.  He  knew  that  from  that 
far  country  to  his  home  there  must  be  a  long  and 
painful  journey.  Every  place  he  passed  would  remind 
him  of  his  wicked,  reckless  waste.  There  would  be 
many  to  ridicule,  many  to  dissuade,  and  at  the  end 
humiliation,  it  might  be  scorn  and  rejection.  But 
in  his  sorrow  and  shame  he  would  oro. 

A  true  repentance.  It  seems  strange  at  first  that 
in  this  nineteenth  century,  which  talks  so  much  of 
''  the  Bible,  and  the  Bible  only,"  we  should  hear  so 
seldom  of  repentance,  of  which  the  Bible  is  full,  and 
so  often  of  conversion,  of  which  it  speaks  so  sparingly 
(the  word  itself  occurs  but  once  in  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, Acts  XV.  3),  and  which  has  never  the  meaning 
so  commonly  given  to  it  now.* 

Ever  since  the  plague  of  sin  came  into  the  world 
there  has  only  been  one  cure — ^repentance,  the  sorrow 
which  hates  sin  because  God  hates  it,  and  escaping 
from  it,  by  the  way  which  He  reveals  to  faith  by 
His  Son,  finds  pardon  and  finds  peace. 

But  this  repentance  means  the  humbling  of  one's 

pride,  the   mastery  of  our  passions;    it   means   the 

bearing  one  another's  burdens ;  it  ;means  a  watchful, 

prayerful,  pure,  brave,  truthful  life.     And  we  shrink 

*  See  Address  V.,  on  Conversion. 


THE  CONSEQUENCES  OF  SIN.  327 

from  the  acknowledgment  that  we  have  done  foolishly 
and  dealt  wickedly,  that  we  have  lost  our  way,  and 
must  retrace  it;  that  we  have  spent  our  money  on 
that  which  is  not  bread,  and  our  labour  for  that 
which  satisfieth  not ;  that  we .  must  take  down  all 
that  we  have  built,  or  it  will  fall  upon  us  and  crush 
us,  and  must  begin  from  the  ground  again. 

So  we  shrink  from  repentance  altogether,  or  we 
are  deceived  by  counterfeits ;  we  crave  our  Father's 
forgiveness,  we  long  for  the  peace  of  home,  we  loathe 
the  husks  and  the  swine,  but  the  journey  is  too  great 
for  us. 

May  God  give  us  the  Spirit  that  prompted  Paul 
to  say,  "  I  count  not  myself  to  have  apprehended : 
but  this  one  thing  I  do,  forgetting  those  things 
which  are  behind,  and  reaching  forth  unto  those 
things  which  are  before,  I  press  toward  the  mark 
for  the  prize."  True  penitents  must  ever  feel  that 
they  are  strangers  and  pilgrims  hurrying  home.  They 
rest,  but  they  cannot  lounge  or  loiter.  The  voice, 
which  first  scared  them  with  tones  of  terror,  "  Escape 
for  thy  life,"  is  ever  calling  to  them,  "  Come  up 
higher,"  and  they  are  constrained  to  answer,  "  I  will 
arise,  and  go." 


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